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THE 



BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 



AND THE CAPTURE OF 

FORTS POWELL, GAINES AND MORGAN, 

BY THE 

COlNIBESrED SEA AND LAND FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES, 

UNDER THE COMMAND OF 

REAR-ADMIRAL DAVID GLASGOW FARRAGUT, AND 
MAJOR-GENERAL GORDON GRANGER, 

August, 1864. 



BY I 

COMMODORE FOXHALL A. PARKER, U. S. N., 

AUTHOR OF " THE FLEETS OF THE WORLD," " FLEET TACTICS 

UNDER STEAM," " SQUADRON TACTICS," 

ETC., ETC. 



ACCOMPANIED BY TWO CHARTS, 

PRINTED IN COLORS. 



BOSTON: 
A. WILLIAMS & CO., 

283 Washington Street. 
1878. 

or 






COPYRIGHT, 
FoxHALL A. Parker, 

1878. \ 



Stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundrj', 
No. 19 Spring Lane. 






V 



TO THE 



OFFICERS, SEAMEN AND MARINES, 

WHO SERVED UNDER FARRAGUT, 
DURING THE MONTH OF AUGUST, 1864, 



PREFACE. 



RegaeddsTG the reputation for intrepidity gained by- 
Federal and Confederate sailors and soldiers during our 
civil war as the common heritage of the American 
people, I determined, last year, at the instance of The 
Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, to write 
the story of Mobile Bay : This, when completed, I read 
before the Society, (December 10th, 1877,) and the 
favorable reception it met with has induced me to give 
it to the public, the more especially as it is accompa- 
nied with a number of official reports, never before 
published, which cannot fail to interest the general 
reader and be of value to the historian. 

As regards my own work, while I can truly say I 
have spared no pains myself to insure its correctness 
and completeness, I have to acknowledge my indebted- 
ness to hosts of friends for their hearty co-operation 

5 



6 PBEFACE. 

in my task ; and my especial thanks are due to Major- 
General Dabney H. Manry, of the late Confederate 
army, and to Professor A. D. Wharton, Principal of 
the Fogg School, at Nashville, Tennessee. 

F. A. P. 

U. S. Navy Yard, Boston, Mass., 

Aprils, 1878. 



THE 



BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY, 



CAPTURE OF FORTS MORGAN, GAINES, AND 
POWELL. 



That arm of the Gulf of Mexico, which, extending for 
thirty-five miles into the state of Alabama, and varying 
in width from seven to fifteen miles, is known as Mobile 
Bay, will ever be regarded with interest by the student 
of history ; for there is scarcely a rood of its shores but 
has served as the last resting-place of one of the early 
discoverers, while the bay itself derives its name from 
the Indian town of Mauvila, whose governor, the gigantic 
Tascaluga, received Hernando de Soto, seated,^ while all 
around him stood, and his standard-bearer unfolded that 
banner which excited the astonishment of the Spaniards, 
and was so soon to be waved defiantly in their midst : 
for in Mauvila's blood-stained streets it was that, among 
other cavaliers of note, De Soto's two nephews fell.^ 

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Mo- 
bile Bay fell into the hands of the French and Spaniards, 
alternately ; in 1812, it was taken possession of by United 
States troops and annexed to Mississippi territory, and, in 

7 



8 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

1819, it became included within the limits of the state 
of Alabama. 

On the 15th of September, 1814, the stillness that 
usually hangs over its sluggish waters was for the first 
time broken by the roar of heavy artiller}^, (for it was on 
that day that the British squadron, under Percy, was 
repulsed in its attack on the little redoubt called Fort 
Bowyer, with a loss of one vessel, the Hermes, and over 
two hundred men;) and, on August 5, 1864, it was 
rudely awakened from its half-century slumber by the 
noise of the great battle which it has become my province 
to describe. 

Alabama, having thrown her sword into the scale of 
the Southern Confederacy in January, 1861, turned her 
first thoughts toward the security of her only seaport, 
Mobile. To this end. Governor Moore seized upon the 
United States arsenal in the city, and garrisoned, with 
state troops, forts Morgan and Gaines.'' As these forts, 
being at the entrance of Mobile Bay, were the keys to 
Mobile from the gulf side, a brief description of their 
condition and armament must now be given. Fort 
Morgan, on the site of old Fort Bowyer, is a pentagonal, 
bastioned work, built of brick, whose full scarp wall is 
four feet, eight inches thick. It is located on the main 
land, at the west end of Mobile Point, and mounted, at 
the time of the passage of Farragut's fleet, eighty-six 
guns of various calibres, consisting of rifled thirty-twos, 
ten-inch, columbiads, and two seven and eight-inch 
Brook's rifles. In each of its bastion-flanks were two 
smooth-bore twenty-four pounders. Twenty-nine addi- 
tional guns were placed in exterior batteries, of which 
the most formidable, " the water battery," bore two rifled 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 9 

thirty-twos, four ten-inch columbiads, and one eight-inch 
Brook's rifle. Within the fort was a citadel, containing 
quarters for soldiers, whose brick walls, loop-holed for 
musketry, were four feet in thickness. The garrison of 
the fort, including officers and men, numbered six hun- 
dred and forty. 

Fort Gaines, erected on the ruins of Fort Tombigbee, 
stands at the eastern extremity of Dauphine Island, three 
nautical miles in a west-northwest direction from Fort 
Morgan. It is built of brick, in the form of a star, with 
semi-detached scarp five feet thick, and small works, in 
angles, for flank defence. When invested by General 
Granger, it had forty-four gun-platforms laid, but upon 
only thirty of them were guns mounted, of which three 
were columbiads, and the rest thirty-two and twenty-four 
pounders. Its garrison consisted of forty-six officers and 
eight hundred and eighteen men. 

On the flats, to the southward and eastward of Fort 
Gaines, innumerable piles were driven, to obstruct the 
passage of small vessels, and from these, two lines of 
torpedoes extended toward Fort Morgan, whose eastern 
limit was marked by a large red buoy. The channel be- 
tween this and the fort was left open for blockade-run- 
ners, and, being but a few hundred yards wide, forced 
every vessel using it to pass close to the fort. 

Such were the works, and such the means employed for 
guarding the main ship-channel ; but, about six nautical 
miles northwest of Fort Gaines, there is a narrow cut for 
light-draught vessels, called Grant's Pass, which it was 
also deemed necessary to prevent the blockading fleet 
from getting possession of. For this purpose, between 
Cedar Point and Little Dauphine Island, on an islet of 



10 THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAY. 

mostly made-land, covering an area of about half an acre, 
the Confederates had begun the construction of a re- 
doubt, which they called Fort Powell. The front face of 
the work was nearly completed, and in a defensible con- 
dition, mounting one eight-inch columbiad, and one six- 
and four-tenths and two seven-inch Brook's rifles. The 
face looking toward Fort Gaines was about half finished, 
its parapets being nearly complete, while its galleries and 
traverses had only been framed. The rear face was with- 
out parapets, and the ten-inch columbiad and seven-inch 
Brook's rifle mounted there were exposed from the plat- 
form up. This part of the fort was encumbered with a 
large quantity of lumber, which was being used in the 
construction of galleries, magazines, &c. 

Inside of these defences, to the northward of, and 
about five hundred yards distant from Fort Morgan, la}'- 
the iron-clad steamer Tennessee, two hundred and nine 
feet in length, and forty-eight feet broad, with an iron 
spur projecting beyond her bow, at a depth of two feet 
below the water-line, which made her, in public estima- 
tion, the most formidable ram of her time ; j^et, not 
trusting to ramming alone for victory, she carried in her 
casemate — whose sloping sides, covered with armor va- 
rying in thickness from five to six inches, were supposed 
to be impenetrable to shot — six Brook's rifled cannon. 
Of these, two were pivot and the others broadside guns, 
the former throwing solid projectiles of one hundred and 
ten pounds weight ; the latter, solid projectiles of ninety- 
five pounds weight. The ports, of which there were ten, 
were so arranged that the pivot guns could be fought in 
broadside, sharp on the bow and quarter, and on a direct 
line with the keel. Her vital defect was her steeringr 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 11 

gear, which was badly arranged and much exposed. As 
but little is known, outside of the state of Alabama, of 
the history of this vessel, which bore the whole brunt of 
the battle on the Confederate side, after the Union fleet 
had fairly passed the forts, the following resume of it 
cannot fail to ppove interesting, I am sure, to tlie ma- 
jority of my hearers assembled here to-night.* She was 
built at Selma, on the Alabama River, in the winter of 
1863-64, and, so soon as her frame was put together, was 
towed to Mobile to receive her armor and armament, 
both of which, it is said, were made of iron taken from 
the ground early in 1863, at the very time that the tim- 
ber was being cut in the forests, which, after passing 
through the hands of the shipwright, was used in the 
construction of her hull. About four months were con- 
sumed in putting on her plating, and this made her mean 
draught of water a little less than thirteen feet. 

On her trial trip, in March, 1864, her speed was set 
down at eight knots; "but this was afterward reduced 
to six, by the increased draught caused by her heavy bat- 
tery and ammunition, and the supply of fuel required to 
be placed on board, after she was taken down the bay." 

And now, the ram being ready, the great problem to 
solve was, how to get her over Dog River Bar, on which, 
at high tide, the depth of water was but eight feet. To 
effect this, long wooden tanks, or caissons, called, in nau- 
tical language, camels, were prepared, so fashioned as to 
fit tightly to the Tennessee's bottom. These were to be 
placed on either side of the vessel, sunk by being filled 
with water, and then lashed securely in their places with 

* It must be remembered that this paper was prepared at the request 
of, and read before The Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, as 
stated in my preface. ^' ■^- !*• 



^2 THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAY. 

heavy chains, after which, the water being pumped out, 
they would rise by their buoyancy, and of course lift the 
ship with them, if the lashings held. 

The camels were just pronounced by their designer 
ready for service, when they were fired and destroyed ; 
yet, not discouraged thereby, the Confederates set to 
work with a will to fell trees for the making of others, 
which being successfully accomplished, the Tennessee, in 
May, 1864, was raised some seven feet out of water, and 
carried across the bar into Mobile Bay. 

Near the Tennessee were anchored three wooden gun- 
boats, viz., the Morgan, the Gaines, and the Selma. The 
Morgan carried one sixty-three hundred weight eight-inch 
gun, and five fifty-seven hundred weight thirty-two 
pounders ; the Gaines, one eight-inch Brook's rifle, and 
five fiftj^-seven hundred weight thirty-two pounders ; the 
Selma, three eight-inch Paixhans, and one old-fashioned 
heavy thirty-two pounder, converted to a rifle and banded 
at the breech, throwing a solid projectile weighing about 
sixty pounds. 

During the time that the Alabamians were putting 
their forls into the condition described above, and assem- 
bling their vessels, they were almost unmolested. A 
small squadron, it is true, had been dispatched, early in 
May, 1861, to blockade Mobile Bay ,5 which Fort Morgan 
" welcomed by displaying, under the Confederate flag, an 
United States ensign with its union down," and, after the 
capture of New Orleans, that squadron was augmented 
until it had reached the proportions of a fleet ; but it was 
not until every stronghold on the Mississippi had fallen 
into our hands, and the Confederacy was thereby cut in 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 13 

twain, that the government seriously directed its atten- 
tion to the reduction of Mobile. 

Accordingly, on January 20, 1864, we find Farragut, 
who possessed all its confidence, making a reconnoissance 
of the defences of Mobile Bay, and thus writing of them 
to the Navy Department: 

"I went in over the bar in the gunboat Octorora, 
Lieutenant-Commander Lowe, taking the Itasca in com- 
pany as a precaution against accident. We passed up to 
Sand Island, and laid abreast of the light-house on it. 
The day was uncommonl}^ fine, and the air very clear. 
We were distant from the forts three and three and a 
half miles, and could see everything distinctly. I am 
satisfied that if I had one iron-clad at this time I could 
destroy their whole force in the bay, and reduce the forts 
at my leisure, by co-operation with our land forces, — say 
five thousand men. We must have about two thousand 
five hundred men in the rear of each fort, to make regu- 
lar approaches by land, and to prevent the garrison's 
receiving supplies and reinforcements ; the fleet to run 
the batteries, and fight the flotilla in the bay. 

" But without iron-clads, we should not be able to fight 
the enemy's vessels of that class with much prospect of 
success, as the latter would lie on the flats, where our 
ships could not go to destroy them. Wooden vessels can 
do nothing with them, unless by getting within one hun- 
dred or two hundred yards, so as to ram them or pour in 
a broadside. 

" The iron-clad Nashville, I am told by a refugee, will 
not be ready before March ; and he says Buchanan made 
a speech to his men, saying that as soon as she is finished, 
he will raise the blockade, &c. It is depressing to see 



14 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

how easily false reports circulate, and in what a state of 
alarm the community is kept by the most absurd rumors.^ 
If the department could get one or two of the iron-clads 
here, it would put an end to this state of things, and 
restore confidence to the people of the ports now in our 
possession. 

" I feel no apprehension about Buchanan's raising the 
blockade of Mobile ; but with such a force as he has in 
the bay, it would be unwise to take in our wooden 
vessels, without the means of fighting the enemy on an 
equal footing. 

"By reference to the chart, you will see how small a 
space there is for the ships to manoeuvre." 

Early in May, the Tennessee, having been floated upon 
camels, as we have said, over Dog River Bar, steamed 
across the bay in full view of the blockading fleet ; and 
Farragut seems to have been greatly impressed with her 
warlike appearance. " Unless she fails in some particu- 
lar," he reports to the department, "I fear it will be 
much more difficult to take Mobile than it would have 
been one week ago." 

Day by day now, however, the rear-admiral's spirits 
rose, as fresh vessels reported to him, and on the 12th of 
July he issued general order number ten, wherein, after 
prescribing the manner in which the ships shall be 
"stript for the conflict," he says: 

" The vessels will run past the forts in couples, lashed 
side by side, as hereinafter designated. The flag-ship 
will lead, and steer from Sand Island north by east by 
compass, until abreast of Fort Morgan ; then northwest 
half north until past the Middle Ground ; then north by 
west ; and the others, as designated in the drawing, will 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 15 

follow in due line, until ordered to anchor, but the bow 
and quarter Hue must be preserved, to give the chase- 
guns a fair range ; and each vessel must be kept astern 
of the broadside of the next ahead. Each vessel will 
keep a very little on the starboard quarter of her next 
ahead, and when abreast of the fort will keep directly 
astern, and, as we pass the fort, will take the same dis- 
tance on the port quarter of the next ahead, to enable 
the stern-guns to fire clear of the next vessel astern. 

" It will be the object of the admiral to get as close to 
the fort as possible before opening fire ; the ships, how- 
ever, will open fire with their chase and other guns, as 
fast as they can be brought to bear, the moment the 
enemy opens upon us. Use short fuses for the shell and 
shrapnel, and, as soon as within three or four hundred 
yards, give the grape. It is understood that heretofore 
we have fired too high ; but with grape-shot it is neces- 
sary to elevate a little above the object, as grape will 
' dribble ' from the muzzle of the gun. 

" If one or more of the vessels be disabled, their part- 
ners must carry them through, if possible; but if they 
cannot, then the next astern must render the required 
assistance ; but as the admiral contemplates moving with 
the flood-tide, it will only require sufficient power to keep 
the crippled vessels in the channel. 

" Vessels that can must place guns upon the poop and 
topgallant forecastle, and in the tops, on the starboard 
side. Should the enemy fire grape, they will remove the 
men from the topgallant forecastle and poop to the guns 
below, until out of grape range. 

"The howitzers must keep up a constant fire with 
shrapnel, from the time they can reach until out of range." 



16 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

On July 29, general order number ten was supple- 
mented by these, Farragiit's last written instructions to 
his commanders before engaging : " Should any vessel be 
disabled to such a degree that her consort is unable to 
keep her in her station, she will drop out of line to the 
westward, and not embarrass the vessels next astern by 
attempting to regain her station. Should she repair dam- 
ages, so as to be able to re-enter the line of battle, she 
will take her station in the rear, as close to the last vessel 
as possible. 

" So soon as the vessels have passed the fort and kept 
away northwest, they can cast off the gunboats, at the 
discretion of the senior officer of the two vessels, and 
allow them to proceed up the bay, to cut off any of the 
enemy's gunboats that may be attempting to escape to 
Mobile. There are certain black buoys placed by the 
enemy from the piles on the west side of the channel, 
across it towards Fort Morgan. It being understood that 
there are torpedoes and other obstructions between the 
buoys, the vessels will take care to pass eastward of the 
easternmost buoy, which is clear of all obstructions." 

While all this was happening afloat, the great general 
who, after he had taken Vicksburg in violation of every 
recognized military principle, and beaten Bragg at Mis- 
sionary Ridge, was invested with supreme command 
ashore, failed not to recognize the importance of massing 
troops in Alabama, to co-operate with the fleet. "As- 
suming," says Andrews, "that the Red River expedition 
would be successful. Grant, on the 31st of March, 1864, 
in a despatch to Banks, expressed the opinion that, after 
reserving a force sufficient to guard the Mississippi River, 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 17 

he (Banks) would have left, according to the last returns, 
a force of over thirty thousand effective men, with which 
to move against Mobile ; to which he expected to add five 
thousand men from Missouri. ' If, however,' he con- 
tinued, ' 3^ou think the force here stated too small to hold 
the territory regarded as necessary to hold, I would sav, 
concentrate at least twenty-five thousand men of your 
present command for operations against Mobile ; with 
these, and such other additions as I can give you from 
elsewhere, lose no time in making a demonstration, to be 
followed by an attack.' " 

The defeat of Banks, however, inspirited the Confed- 
erates west of the Mississippi to such a degree, that they 
at once assumed the offensive ; so that General Canby, 
Banks's successor, finding ample employment for all his 
forces in Arkansas and Louisiana, was unable to carry out 
Grant's instructions, especially as he had been compelled 
to send six thousand men of his command to Washington, 
then menaced by Early. Grant thereupon postponed his 
contemplated movement upon Mobile to a more con- 
venient season, contenting himself, meanwhile, with send- 
ing an order to Canby to dispatch to Farragut the troops 
necessary to invest forts Gaines and Morgan. Circum- 
stances, however, making it impossible for Canby to spare 
men enough to invest both forts at once, it was agreed, at 
Farragut's suggestion, that Gaines should be first invested. 

For this purpose, on the afternoon of August 3d, fifteen 
hundred men were landed on Dauphine Island by the 
boats, and under cover of the guns of a flotilla com- 
manded by Lieutenant-Commander J. C. P. DeKraft. 

The troops, which consisted of detachments from the 
Seventy-seventh Illinois, Thirty-fourth Iowa, Ninety-sixth 
2 



18 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

Ohio, Third IMaryland Dismounted Cavalry, and Cobb's 
Colored Regiment of Engineers, under the immediate 
orders of Brigadier-General McGinnis, and accompanied 
by General Gordon Granger as commander-in-chief, took 
up their march, the moment they reached the shore, for 
Fort Gaines, distant from them fifteen miles. Their 
progress through the heavy sand was slow and laborious, 
and when night shut in, with a drenching rain, so intense 
was the darkness that " three times the skirmish line got 
in rear of the main column." They pushed forward with 
spirit, however, until midnight, and then, at the word of 
command, threw themselves down on the wet ground 
without a murmur, and slept the sweet sleep of the weary, 
until awakened by the bugles of the morrow, when they 
resumed their march, and, before the day closed, were 
intrenched about the fort, their skirmish line being less 
than half a mile from it. 

At sunrise, on the 5th, Fort Gaines opened fiercely 
upon the besiegers; but, an hour later, the sharp crack 
of its rifles was hushed by the loud, continuous roar of 
artillery on the opposite side of the channel, where the 
magnificent spectacle presented itself of Farragut's fleet, 
wreathed in smoke, — its leading vessels one sheet of fire 
from their starboard batteries, — forcing the passage of 
Fort Morgan. 

From the day general order number ten was promul- 
gated, up to the very moment of conflict, the greatest 
activity had prevailed in the Union fleet, all of whose 
vessels had, in turn, visited Pensacola, (but a few hours' 
sail from Mobile,) to get ready for the fray. In the ships 
carrying spars, nothing above the topmasts was left stand- 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 19 

ing, and the Richmond had wisely struck and landed 
even her topmasts and topsail yards. On the outside of 
each vessel, in the wake of her engines and boilers, chain 
cables were ranged fore and aft, and, inside, sand bags 
were placed, from stem to stern, and from the berth to 
the spar deck ; and, in short, every contrivance that Yan- 
kee ingenuity could suggest was resorted to for the pro- 
tection of the vessels and their crews from shot and shell, 
from splinters and falling spars. 

Farragut had fully intended to run into the bay on the 
day the troops were landed on Dauphine Island, but his 
design was frustrated by the non-arrival of the monitor 
Tecumseh, until the evening of August 4th, when she 
steamed in and took up her anchorage in the Sand Island 
channel, with her consorts, the Winnebago, Manhattan, 
and Chickasaw. 

On the following morning, at four o'clock, the wooden 
vessels, which were anchored three miles and a half south- 
southeast of the iron-clads, commenced getting under 
way, and forming double column, or column of twos 
lashed together, the starboard vessels of which were the 
Brooklyn, Hartford. Richmond, Lackawanna. Mononga- 
hela, Ossipee, and Oneida ; the port ones, the Octorora, 
Metacomet, Port Royal, Seminole, Kennebec, Itasca, and 
Galena. 

The inboard and starboard waist and quarter boats of 
many of the vessels of the fleet had been left at Pensa- 
cola ; the others were being carried (lowered to the 
water's edge), or towed, out of harm's way. on the port 
side of the column, with the exception of the little Loyal, 
the admiral's steam barge, which, with its saucy howitzer 
in the bows, was making its way into rebeldom unaided. 



20 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

As the Brooklyn had four chase-guns, and was provided 
with a torpedo-catcher, Farragut, at the instance of liis 
captains, had given her the lead. "They urged it upon 
me," he says in his report to the Secretary of the Nav}'-, 
"because, in their judgment, the flag-ship ought not to be 
too much exposed. This I believe to be an error ; for, 
apart from the fact that exposure is one of the penalties 
of rank in the navy, it will always be the aim of the 
enemy to destro}' the flag-ship, and such attempt was very 
persistently made, but Providence did not permit it to be 
successful." 

The Hartford, a vessel already of historic fame from 
her having borne the flag of Farragut at New Orleans, 
was destined to bear it again in triumph on this memorable 
occasion. She was a screw-ship of the second class, with 
full sail-power, and of nineteen hundred tons burden ; 
her extreme length being two hundred and twenty-five 
feet, her greatest breadth of beam forty-four, and her 
mean draught of water, with everything in, sixteen feet 
three inches. Her engines were direct-acting, developing 
a speed of eight knots, and her greatest speed, under sail 
and steam combined, was eleven knots. Her armament 
consisted of eighteen nine-inch Dahlgrens, two one hun- 
dred-pounder Parrotts, and one thirty-pounder Parrott; 
and the whole weight of solid projectiles thrown by her 
at a broadside was nine hundred and eighty pounds. 

The Brooklyn and the Richmond were sister ships to 
the Hartford; the Lackawanna and Monongahela about 
five hundred tons smaller; and, from the Monongahela, 
the vessels of the fleet gradually decreased in size and 
armament, until we reach the little Itasca," of five hun- 
dred tons, with a battery of one eleven-inch gun, two 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 21 

thirty-two pounders, of fifty-seven hundred weight, two 
tu enty-pounder Parrotts, , and one twelve-pounder Dahl- 
gren. 

The Tecumseh and the Manhattan were single-turreted 
monitors of the burden of five hundred and fifty tons, 
whose extreme length was two hundred and twenty-five 
feet, and extreme beam forty-three feet. The diameter 
of their ten-inch turrets, in the clear, was twenty-one feet, 
and each turret carried two fifteen-inch guns. Their 
side-armor was five, their deck-armor two inches thick, 
and the height of their decks above water eighteen inches. 

The Chickasaw and the Winnebago were not so heavily 
armored as their consorts, and differed from them in hav- 
ing two turrets each, and in their light draught of water, 
which was but six feet. In each of their turrets were 
mounted two eleven-inch guns. 

The total weight of metal of the advancing fleet was 
fourteen thousand two hundred and forty-six pounds ; 
that thrown by it at a broadside, nine thousand two hun- 
dred and eighty-eight pounds. 

So soon as the vessels were in position, they hoisted an 
ensign at each mast-head, and steered for the Sand Island 
channel, the monitors joining them, as they crossed '' the 
outer bar," and forming, in column of vessels, on their 
starboard side, abreast of the Brooklyn, Hartford, and 
Richmond. 

The morning was a beautiful one, the sea smooth, and 
the sky unclouded ; and, as the fleet steamed steadily up 
the main ship-channel, — drum answering drum from van 
to rear, in hoarse summons to the officers and men of 
each ship to assemble at their quarters, — De Kraft, who 
was watching it from the mast-head of the Conemaugh, 



22 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

was struck with its "stately appearance and compact 
order." "I noticed also, with great satisfaction," he re- 
marks, " that a light breeze was springing up from the 
westward, which must certainly blow the smoke from our 
guns, as soon as they opened, full upon the fort and bat- 
teries." 

At six o'clock, the Confederate vessels, upon signal 
from their admiral, emerged from behind the fort, and 
took position, in single echelon, across the channel, with 
their port batteries bearing upon our fleet. The Selma, 
on the right, was in advance, and farthest to the north- 
ward; while the ram Tennessee, on the left, rested a little 
to the westward of the red buoy, and close to the inner 
line of torpedoes, upon which, as the tide was flood, there 
was no damper of her drifting. 

About this time, too, the steamers Gennessee, Pinola, 
Pembina, Sebago, Tennessee, and Bienville came to an- 
chor to the southward and eastward of Fort Morgan, and 
opened fire upon it. The station assigned to them was to 
the northward of the Southeast Shoal, as close to Mobile 
Point as they could get, so that they might, in a measure, 
keep down the fire of the fort, wdiile the fleet was passing 
it; but through some misunderstanding, perhaps, on the 
part of their senior officer, Lieutenant-Commander Graf- 
ton, they were anchored at such a respectful distance from 
the shore as to render their fire useless. 

At forty-seven minutes past six, the Tecumseh, which 
was then in the lead, about three hundred yards from the 
Brooklyn and sharp on her starboard bow, fired her guns, 
merely for the purpose of scaling them, and then loaded 
each with sixty pounds of powder and a steel shot, in 
readiness to engage the ram. 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 23 

At six minutes past seven, the fort opened, and was 
replied to by the Brooklyn, and, in a few minutes there- 
after, the action became general on both sides. 

The scene from the Conemaugh was now grand beyond 
all description : the forts, batteries, and monitors envel- 
oped in smoke, made luminous by the flashes of their 
guns; the wooden vessels in plain view, vomiting fire 
from stem to stern ; and the grand old admiral in the port 
main rigging of the Hartford, just below the futtock staff, 
reclining, as it were, in a sort of bridle or swing passed 
around his back and under his arms, whose ends were 
fastened to the futtock shrouds, — one hand grasped the 
rigging, and in the other he held a marine glass; and 
thus, without danger of losing his hold or footing, he 
could turn easily in every direction, and see all that was 
passing below him, on the water and on the land. 

Beneath him, on the poop, was his fleet-captain, Per- 
cival Drayton, an officer noted for his professional ability 
and zeal for the service ; and, in the top above his head, 
leaning against the rail, stood his trusty pilot, Martin 
Freeman, whose services should ever be remembered with 
gratitude by the republic. Communicating, through a 
speaking-tube, with the deck of the Hartford, and sig- 
nalling with his hands to the commanding olEcer of her 
consort, Lieutenant-Commander Jouett, who stood on the 
starboard wheel-house of his vessel, he piloted the flag- 
ship, amid all the vicissitudes of battle, with a calmness 
and intrepidity truly heroic. 

And indeed, throughout the whole fleet, a spirit of de- 
votion to duty was manifested worthy of the descendants 
of the men who had blown up the Philadelphia in the 
harbor of Tripoli, followed Perry and McDonough on 



24 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

lakes Erie and Champlain, and burned a Mexican schooner 
moored to the castle of San Juan D'Uiloa. 

The signal quartermaster, with his flags at hand, kept 
his glass steadily fixed upon the flag-ship. What cared 
he for shot or shell, if the signals of the admiral were but 
truly transmitted or replied to? 

The helmsman, with his hands grasping the spokes of 
the wheel, had ears alone for his captain and the pilot. 
'■'■Starboard a little f ^'- Port a little!'''' he cried from time 
to time, echoing the orders of his superiors. 

The leadsmen in the chains gave out their soundings as 
coolly and deliberately as if they were entering a friendly 
harbor, and, mingling with the cries of the helmsman, as 
the water shoaled, came their warning words, " By the 
ma?-k, three I ^^ or, "^ quarter less four T^ in the musical 
tones so dear to seamen. 

The bronzed veteran and the old salt who had seen 
service in Mexico and China stood side by side, at the 
guns, with the young marine officer and the boy-graduate 
of the academ3% and each had equal faith in the other ; 
for all knew that to die for one's country, when need be, 
is not only '-sweet and decorous," but strictly according 
to navy teaching, and " the usage of the sea-service." 

And in this faith all went to their posts, prepared to 
obey the regulations and " fight courageously ; " for, in a 
fleet where a single shell, exploding in the boiler of a 
vessel, might subject the engineers and firemen to the fate 
of Marsyas, or a torpedo or infernal, exploding under her 
bottom, send all hands journeying ad astra, no one could 
properly be considered a non-combatant. 

The morale of the Union fleet, then, was what the 
French would call superb ; all, from the highest to the 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 25 

lowest, placing implicit faith in Farragut, and all pre- 
pared to take any risks when led by him. Thus, while 
the captain of the Winnebago was coolly walking back 
and forth on the bridge of his vessel, giving orders, first 
to the gunners of one turret, then to those of the other, 
how to direct their fire, a negro seaman, probably sta- 
tioned at the life buoy, was as coolly promenading the 
poop-deck of the Galena. Seemingly unconscious of all 
that was passing around him, this man, with his hands 
uplifted to heaven, was loudly singing a negro hj^'mn. 
God knows what thoughts were passing through his mind 
on this his day of jubilee ! 

At a quarter past seven, the flag ship signalled to the 
wooden vessels, closer order, when the column was closed 
as compactly as possible, the bows of each pair of vessels 
being within a few yards of the vessels next ahead, and a 
little on their starboard quarter. 

The fleet was now heading a point to the left of Fort 
Morgan, its rear being past Sand Island, and 'the van 
within half a mile of the water battery, whose galling 
fire, as well as that of the Confederate squadron, could 
only be replied to by the bow-chasers of its leading 
vessels. 

By half past seven, the Tecumseh, which still main- 
tained her position ahead of the Brooklyn, was well up 
with the fort, and drawing slowly by the Tennessee, 
leaving her on the port beam. 

At this moment, when the eyes of all were riveted 
upon the iron-clads, expecting to see them hotly engaged 
so soon as the Tecumseh should have passed the lines of 
torpedoes intervening between them, the Brooklyn and 
the Hartford poured a broadside into Fort Morgan, driv- 



26 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

ing the enemy, helter-skelter, from their barbette and 
water batteries. 

The sight was an inspiriting one, and, in the enthusiasm 
of the moment, the gallant Craven, who thirsted for the 
honor of engaging the ram singly, gave the fatal order, 
Hard a-starhoard ! and dashed straight at her, his course 
taking him to the westward of the large red huoy. 

The bow gun of the Tennessee, loaded with a steel bolt 
weighing one hundred and forty pounds, was kept steadily 
trained upon the monitor as she advanced. " Do not fire, 
Mr. Wharton," cried Captain Johnston, of the Tennessee, 
to the lieutenant in charge of her first division, "until 
the vessels are in actual contact." " Aye, aye, sir," was 
the cool response of Wharton, as he stepped to the breech 
of the bow gun, "in expectation of a deadly fight at close 
quarters." Scarce were the words uttered, when the 
Tecumseh, reeling to port as from an earthquake shock, 
foundered, head foremost, with almost every soul on 
board, destroyed by a torpedo.^ A few of her crew were 
observed to leap wildly from her turret; for an instant 
her screw was seen revolving in air — and then there was 
nothing left to show that the Tecumseh had ever formed 
one of that proud Union fleet but a small boat washed 
from her deck, and a number of half-drowned men strug- 
gling fiercely for life in the seething waters which had 
closed over their vessel forever. 

Such was the fate of the Tecumseh ! 

Short shrift had they who went down with her ! Yet, 
short as the time of her foundering was, it has furnished 
us with one of those magnificent episodes of war which 
make famous the annals of nations. 

Craven and Mr. John Collins, the pilot of the Te- 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 27 

cumseh, met, as tlieir vessel was sinking beneath them, at 
the foot of the ladder leading to the top of the turret. 

Great and good men often err ; but they differ from 
ordinary mortals in this, that they are willing to atone for 
their errors, even with their lives, if necessary. It may 
be, then, that Craven, in the nobility of his soul, — for all 
know he was one of nature's noblemen, — it may be, I 
say, that in the nobility of his soul, the thought flashed 
across him that it was through no fault of his pilot that 
the Tecinnseh was in this peril: he drew back. "After 
you, pilot," said he, grandly. 

" There was nothing after me," relates Mr. Collins, 
who fortunately lived to tell this tale of heroism ; " when 
I reached the upmost round of the ladder, the vessel 
seemed to drop from under me." 

Yet Craven's words, carried to Heaven by approving 
angels as evidence of man's Jiumanity to man, will live 
forever in the book of life, with no tear on the page to 
efface the record. 

Therefore the navy points with exultation — not regret 
— to the buoy off Fort Morgan, which watches over his 
iron tomb. 

" His sword is rust, 
His body dust, 
His soul is with the saints, we trust." 



Beholding the disaster to the Tecumseh, the Brooklyn 
stopped. "What is the matter with the Brooklyn?" 
asked the admiral, anxiously ; " Freeman, she must have 
plenty of water there." 

"Plenty of water, and to spare, admiral," replied the 



28 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

sturdy pilot ; "but her screw is moving: I tliink she is 
going ahead again, sir." 

Ahead again! If that were true, it were glorious 
news indeed ! But no ! By heaven, she backs ! backs 
full upon the flag-ship ; thus arresting the advance of the 
whole fleet ; so that the rear presses upon the van, the 
van upon the rear, and all is disorder and confusion. 

The enemy, not slow to comprehend this condition of 
affairs, take advantage of their opportunity, and, manning 
all the guns from which they have so recently been driven, 
pour in a murderous fire upon our fleet, which meets with 
but a feeble fire in return. 

" At this critical moment," writes an eye-witness, " the 
batteries of our ships w^ere almost silent, while the whole 
of Mobile Point was a living line of flame." The slight- 
est vacillation then on the part of the admiral, and the 
battle would have been lost, and the greater part of the 
fleet destroyed. 

But Farragut was equal to the emergency. His great 
qualities as a commander, which were apparent to all who 
were near him in times of extreme peril, were never more 
conspicuous than on this trying occasion. Danger there 
was, and disaster there might be ahead, he knew; but 
astern were sure defeat and dishonor ; and for America's 
great admiral — the man who was born to be a hero — 
there could be but one course to steer, that leading 
straight into Mobile Bay, where the Confederate vessels 
were awaiting him. 

But between him and the Confederates interposed the 
Brooklyn, and how to get by her was the question ; for 
she lay right athwart the Hartford's hawse, bows on to 
Fort Moro-an. 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 29 

Then was made manifest the soundness of the admiral's 
judgment in lashing his vessels together by pairs ; for the 
Hartford going ahead, while the ISIetacomet backed, the 
bows of the former were swung to the westward, until 
clear of the Brooklyn's stern, when both vessels gathered 
headway. As they were slowly passing the Brooklyn, 
her captain reported "a heavy line of torpedoes across 
the channel." 

"Damn the torpedoes!" was the emphatic reply of 
Farragut. " Jouett, full speed ! Four bells. Captain 
Drayton." And the Hartford, as if eager to bear the 
admiral's flag to the front, bounded forward " like a thing 
of life," and, increasing her speed at each instant, crossed 
both lines of torpedoes, going over the ground at the rate 
of nine miles an hour ; for so far had she drifted to the 
northward and westward while her engines were stopped, 
as to make it impossible for the admiral, without heading 
directl}'- on to Fort Morgan, to obey his own instructions 
to "pass eastward of the easternmost buoy." 

As soon as he could get his vessel's head to the north- 
ward, Alden, the captain of the Brooklyn, "pushed up 
the channel at full speed, in the Hartford's wake," and, 
during the fight which ensued with the Confederate ram, 
displayed his usual gallantry. A good seaman, a skilful 
officer, whose battle-record attests his bravery, his hesi- 
tancy at " Mobile's Gate " must needs be ascribed to an 
error of judgment, since all will admit that in many a 
stubborn fight elsewhere he served the Republic well. 

While " the guardian of the fleet," as one of the offi- 
cers who served under him appropriately styles Farragut, 
was engaged in extricating it from its perilous position, 



30 THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAT. 

he was not immindful of the survivors of the Tecumseh, 
whom he beheld in the water near by. " Send a boat, 
Jouett," said he. " and pick np the poor fellows." Jouett, 
in expectation of the order, had already dispatched a boat 
on this humane mission, in charge of Acting Ensign (now 
Lieutenant-Commander) Henry C. Nields. Starting from 
the port quarter of the Metacomet, and steering the boat 
himself, this mere boy pulled directly under the battery 
of the Hartford, and around the Brooklyn, to within a 
few liundred yards of the fort, exposed to the fire of both 
friends and foes. 

After he had gone a little distance from his vessel, he 
seemed suddenly to reflect that he had no flag flying, 
when he cbopped the yoke-ropes, picked up a small ensign 
from the bottom of the boat, and, unfurling it from its 
staff, which he shipped in a socket made for it in the 
stern-sheets, he threw it full to the breeze, amid the loud 
cheers of his men. " I can scarcely describe," says an 
officer of the Tennessee, "how I felt at witnessing this 
most gallant act. The muzzle of our gun was slowly 
raised, and the bolt intended for the Tecumseh flew harm- 
lessly over the heads of that glorious boat's crew, far 
down in the line of our foes." 

After saving Ensign Zetlich, eight men, and the pilot, 
Nields turned, and pulling for the fleet, succeeded in 
reaching the Oneida, where he remained until the close 
of the action. 

The order of battle being restored, through Farragut's 
indomitable pluck and decision of character, the Union 
fleet sped swiftly by Fort Morgan, each vessel, as she got 
fairly abreast of the fort, pouring into it such a shower 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 31 

of shell, shrapnel, grape, and canister as, for the time, 
completely silenced its batteries ; and although many of 
the vessels were repeatedly hulled by the enemy's mis- 
siles, as they drew near to or receded from the fort, yet 
all escaped serious damage, with the exception of the 
Oneida, which, being the starboard rear vessel of the 
column, was exposed to the concentrated fire of every 
gun on Mobile Point not previously dismounted or dis- 
abled.^ 

She was almost by the fort, however, when a rifled shell 
passed through her chain armor, and entering the star- 
board boiler exploded in it, causing sad havoc among the 
firemen and coal-heavers of the Avatch below, all of whom 
were either killed outright or fearfully scalded by the 
escaping steam. x\nother shell, exploding in the cabin, 
cut both wheel-ropes, while a third set fire to the deck 
above the forward magazine ; yet, encouraged by the 
chivalric bearing of their commander, and the fine ex- 
ample set them by the executive officer and the chief 
engineer of the ship, the crew of the Oneida behaved 
splendidl3\ The relieving tackles were instantly manned, 
the fire put out, and connection between the starboard 
and port boiler cut oif ; and the Oneida, assisted by the 
Galena, went on as if nothing unusual had happened on 
board of her, her guns never for a moment ceasing to 
respond to the really terrific fire of the enemy. 

When she got beyond the range of the fort, De Kraft 
signalled to his flotilla to get under way, and approaching 
Fort Powell as near as the depth of water would permit, 
anchored his vessels in the form of a crescent, and com- 
menced a vigorous bombardment of the fort, which the 
Confederates spiritedly replied to. 



32 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

As the Hartford entered Mobile Bay, the ram " dashed 
out " at her, and failing to overtake her, turned and made 
for the Brooklj'n, Richmond, and Lackawanna in succes- 
sion, but missed them all, saluting each, however, as she 
went by, with a broadside, which did great injury to the 
vessel, and laid many a brave fellow low, while their fire, 
in reply, made not the slightest impression on her iron 
shield. 

Then Strong, in the Monongahela, determined to resort 
to ramming, and, getting a good position on the Tennes- 
see's beam, he attempted, at full speed, to run her down. 

The Tennessee, to avoid being struck amidships, put 
her helm a-starboard, and the two vessels collided at an 
acute angle, the ram swinging alongside of the Mononga- 
hela's consort, the Kennebec, whose sharp cutwater cut 
her barge in two. 

As she lay close aboard of the Kennebec, she succeeded 
in exploding a shell on that vessel's berth-deck, which 
killed and wounded several of her officers and men, car- 
ried away all her ladders, and so filled the ship with 
smoke that she was supposed to be on fire, and the alarm 
sounded. This created some excitement among the crew ; 
which was quickly allayed, however, by the calm, cool 
conduct of her commanding and other officers. 

Passing the Ossipee without firing a gun at her, the 
ram next steered for the crippled Oneida, and shooting 
under her stern, fired two broadsides at her in rapid suc- 
cession, which destroyed her boats and cabin furniture, 
cut away the greater part of her lower rigging, damaged 
her mainmast and one of the heavy gun-carriages, and 
dismounted the twelve-pound howitzer on the poop. 

Fortunately the enemy fired high, or there would have 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 33 

been few left on board the Oneida to tell the story of 
her engagement with the dreaded ram. Among the 
wounded was the gallant Mullany, who had volunteered 
for the fight, and throughout the whole of it given to his 
officers and crew '' a noble example of unflinching courage 
and heroism." 

It was now at an end, so far as the Oneida was con- 
cerned, which shortly afterward came to anchor well up 

the bay, while the Tennessee sought the shelter of Fort 
Morgan. 10 

During the time that their flag-ship was engaged in her 
work of destruction, the Confederate gunboats were far 
from idle. From their position ahead of the Hartford 
they had been enabled to keep up a most destructive fire 
upon her, " a single shot from the Selma killing ten and 
wounding five men at numbers one and two guns." At 
a little past eight, however, the admiral, observing that 
all his vessels were clear of the fort, made signal, — 
Gfunboats chase enemy'' s gunboats. The signal was hardly 
above the Hartford's deck, when Jouett, cutting the fasts 
which bound him to that vessel, started in obedience to 
it, followed, at some distance, by the Itasca, Kennebec, 
and Port Royal. 

The Confederates had no course open to them but 
retreat, keeping up a heavy fire from their stern guns as 
they fled. A violent rain squall coming on just then, the 
Gaines was enabled to seek the cover of the fort, which 
she reached in a sinking condition, her commanding 
officer running her on shore, and setting fire to her, to 
prevent her falling into Union hands. 

At nine o'clock, " the Morgan hauled off to starboard," 
and, at ten minutes past nine, the Selma struck her flag 
3 



34 THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAY. 

to the Metacomet.^i She had been well defended. Two 
of her officers and six of her men were killed, and the 
number of her wounded amounted to ten, among whom 
was her captain, Lieutenant-Commander Murphy. 

And now, having witnessed with admiration and pride 
the heroism of the Union fleet in entering Mobile Bay, 
despite Fort Morgan, the Confederate squadron, and the 
torpedoes so thickly strewed in its way, we shall con- 
template with hardly less pride, and with similar admira- 
tion, I am sure, the heroic daring of our brothers in arms 
on board the Tennessee, who, when the forts were passed, 
and the Confederate gunboats dispersed, resolved unaided 
to attempt the forlorn hope of wresting victory from three 
iron-clads and fourteen wooden vessels.^^ 

So soon as the Tennessee reached Fort Morgan, her 
armor was carefully examined and found intact, while not 
an officer or man on board of her was injured in the 
slightest degree, a few shot-holes in her smoke-stack alone 
telling of her conflict with the Union fleet : these were 
soon patched, and she steered once more for the Hartford, 
now lying quietly at anchor about three miles away. 

The moment Farragut saw her coming, he signalled to 
his monitors and largest wooden vessels "to attack the 
ram, not only with their guns, but bows on at full speed; 
and then began one of the fiercest naval combats on 
record." 

The Monongahela, not having anchored, was the first 
to make a rush at her, going through the water at full ten 
miles an hour ; yet so bent was Admiral Buchanan on the 
Hartford's destruction, that he entirely ignored every 
other vessel, not deigning to take the slightest notice of 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 35 

the Monongahela's approach until she was close aboard 
of him, on his port beara. Then he ordered the Ten- 
nessee's helm a-port, which caused the Monongahela to 
strike her at a slightly oblique angle ; nevertheless the 
shock of the collision was such that many of the crews 
of both vessels measured their lengths on their respective 
decks. " The Tennessee," writes Lieutenant Wharton, 
" yielded to the impact, and spun swiftly round, as upon 
a pivot. I felt as if I were going through the air. ' What 
is the matter, Captain Johnston?' I asked. 'We've been 
rammed, sir,' was the response from the pilot-house, 
where he stood." 

During the instant of actual contact, the ram fired two 
shots at her antagonist, piercing her through and through, 
while the Monongahela's whole broadside, discharged at 
the casemate of the ram, rolled harmlessly down its 
sloping sides. 

" The Monongahela was hardly clear of us," says Whar- 
ton again, " when a hideous-looking monster came creep- 
ing up on our port side, whose slowly revolving turret 
revealed the cavernous depths of a mammoth gun. Stand 
clear of the port side ! I shouted. A moment after, a 
thundering report shook us all, while a blast of dense, 
sulphurous smoke covered our port-holes, and four hun- 
dred and forty pounds of iron, impelled by sixty pounds 
of powder, admitted daylight through our side, where, 
before it struck us, there had been over two feet of solid 
wood, covered with five inches of solid iron. This was 
the only fifteen-inch shot that hit us fair. It did not 
come through ; the inside netting caught the splinters, 
and there were no casualties from it. I was glad to find 
myself alive after that shot." 



36 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

The Lackawanna next bore down upon the Tennessee, 
and although her stern was stove in to the plank ends, 
"for the distance of three feet above the water line to 
five feet below it," no perceptible effect was produced on 
the ram, beyond giving her a slight list, from which she 
quickly righted, going on as before, and always heading 
for the Hartford. Nor did the Hartford shun the en- 
counter; but, following closely in the Lackawanna's 
wake, she too struck the Tennessee a fearful blow, at the 
same time throwing her whole port broadside full upon 
the casemate of the ram, which, like the Monongahela's 
broadside, failed to injure it in the slightest degree. 

Surrounded as she was by enemies, the ram had this 
advantage, that she could fire or run at every vessel in 
viev/, Avhile the Unionists had to be careful not to fire at 
or come in collision with their own vessels. Indeed, it so 
happened that the Hartford, while making for the ram a 
second time, was rdn into by the Lackawanna, and cut 
down to within two feet of the water's edge. 

Thus, for an hour or more, the Tennessee contended 
successfully against the whole Union fleet ; but, at the 
expiration of that hour, it became evident to all on board 
of her that victory was impossible and defeat certain, 
unless she could get a second time under the protection 
of Fort Morgan, for which Captain Johnston, in obe- 
dience to Buchanan's orders, then steered. 

But by this time, to use the language of Farragut, 
"she was sore beset." The Manhattan was hanging on 
her starboard quarter, pounding her with fifteen-inch 
solid and cored shot ; the Winnebago, not far off, saluting 
her with eleven-inch steel bolts; and the wooden vessels 
ramming her, one after the other, in quick succession, 



THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAY. 37 

"with a reckless daring worthy of success." But the 
vessel that undoubtedly inflicted the most injury npon 
the ram was the monitor Chickasaw, commanded by 
Lieutenant-Commander George H. Perkins, " which I 
hung," said the pilot of the Tennessee, " close under our / 
stern. Move as we would, she was always there, firing ^ 
the two eleven-inch guns in her forward turret like 
pocket-pistols, so that she soon had the plates flying in 
the air." 

Thus, " stormed at by shot and shell," and rammed, 
every few minutes, by a heavy vessel going at great 
speed, with three of her wrought-iron port-shutters 
jammed while half closed, and her steering-apparatus,^^ 
relieving tackles, and smoke-stack shot awa}-, the Ten- 
nessee lay, at last, like a log upon the water, — a mere 
target for her foes. 

Then Captain Johnston, repairing to the berth deck, 
where Admiral Buchanan was lying, under the surgeon's 
hands, with a fractured leg, sorrowfully reported to the 
admiral that resistance was no longer possible. " Do the 
best you can, Johnston," was Buchanan's reply, " and 
when all is done, surrender." 

When Johnston returned to the pilot-house, he beheld 
the Ossipee approaching at full speed, while the fire of 
our vessels was each instant increasing in intensity. The 
Tennessee had already/ done her best, and there was no 
time for dilly-dallying ; so, hastening to the top of " the 
shield," which was exposed to a perfect shower of solid 
projectiles, this truly brave man hauled down the Confed- 
erate ensign with his own hands. — It had been raised in 
triumph, it was lowered without dishonor. ^^ 

The captured officers and men were transferred to the 



38 THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAT. 

Ossipee, and soon afterward sent to Pensacola ; and it is 
pleasant to know that, to this day, they speak warmly of 
the hospitality extended to them by their captors. 

It will be remembered that, while this fierce naval fight 
was taking place in Mobile Bay, De Kraft's flotilla, an- 
chored in Grant's Pass, was busily engaged shelling Fort 
Powell. During the morning, although the fort was hit 
several times, no particular damage was done to it ; but, 
about two in the afternoon, the Chickasaw, steaming up 
to within seven hundred yards of its eastern face, com- 
menced a rapid fire with shell and grape, which the enemy 
was only able to reply to with a single Brook's rifle. A 
shell, entering one of the sally-ports, passed entirely 
through the bomb-proof, and buried itself, without ex- 
ploding, in the opposite wall ; another, and another fol- 
lowing, burst in the face of the fort, displacing the sand 
so rapidly that Lieutenant-Colonel Williams, its com- 
mandant, became convinced that it would soon be ren- 
dered untenable. He therefore telegraphed to Colonel 
Anderson, commanding Fort Gaines, Unless I can evac- 
uate, I ivill he compelled to surrender within forty-eight 
hours. 

Anderson's reply was. Save your garrison when your fort 
is no longer tenable. At the time this despatch was re- 
ceived, it was growing dark, and the Lieutenant-Colonel 
instantly decided that it would be better to save his 
command, and destroy the fort, than to allow both to fall 
into the enemy's hands. The fleet had not yet moved up 
to intercept his communications, the tide was low, and he 
could not expect to find another such favorable opportu- 
nity for escaping; so he silently withdrew, leaving Lieu- 



THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAY. 39 

tenants Savage and Jeffers to spike the guns, and blow- 
up the fort so soon as he should make signal to them that 
its garrison had reached the main land. This signal was 
made about 10.30 p. M., just as De Kraft and Lieutenant- 
Commander Franklin, who had arrived during the day 
with a mail for the fleet, were returning to the Cone- 
maugh in a small gig from a visit to the victorious 
admiral. 

" Now, to find Grant's Pass at night," writes De Kraft, 
" it was necessary to steer directly for Fort Powell, which 
loomed up boldly against the clear sky. When within 
half a mile of it, a bright port-fire was observed to burn 
for a few seconds ; then a dark column rose suddenly to 
a great height, and a heavy report and vivid flash an- 
nounced that Fort Powell had been blown up." 

About daylight the next morning, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Williams marched into Mobile with every ofiScer and man 
of his command, consisting of two infantry companies of 
the Thirty-first Alabama, and a detachment of Culpep- 
per's Battery, in all about one hundred and forty souls.^^ 

At the same time. Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Pome- 
ro3% commanding the Estrella, hoisted the stars and 
stripes over the ruins of the fort, and a large force was 
set to work to remove the obstructions in Grant's Pass, 
which being soon effected, direct communication by water 
was once more established between Mobile Bay and New 
Orleans. 

During the morning of the 6th of August, the fleet 
was occupied in repairing damages ; but on the afternoon 
of that day it began to make preparations for a general 
bombarduient of Fort Gaines on the morrow, the Chick- 



40 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

asaw getting under way a little before sunset, and drop- 
ping several shells into it, as a forerunner of what was to 
follow. 

The besieging army meanwhile had mounted two thirty- 
pounder Parrotts and four twelve-pounder rifles, and was 
hard at work laying down platforms for new guns. 

But Admiral Farragut, knowing full well the fort could 
not hold out long against such a fire as would be brought 
to bear upon it, and anxious to spare the further effusion 
of blood, sent a flag-of-truce boat to the fort, as soon as 
the Chickasaw withdrew from it, with a request • that 
Colonel Anderson and his staff would come to see him on 
board the Hartford. Colonel Anderson accepted the in- 
vitation, and was accompanied by Major Brown, and both 
were very kindly received by the admiral in his cabin. 

There were present at this interview, beside the admiral 
and the two Confederate officers, Major-General Gordon 
Granger, Captain Pcrcival Drayton, and Major James E. 
Montgomery, Assistant-Adjutant-General and Chief of 
Staff of the thirteenth army corps. 

The admiral then said to Colonel Anderson that he had 
sent for him to advise the immediate surrender of the 
fort. " Surrounded on three sides by my vessels, and on 
the fourth by the army," said he, "you cannot possibly 
hold it. Submit, then, like a man to this hard necessity, 
and prevent further loss of life." 

Anderson at once saw the force of the admiral's advice, 
and appreciated its humanity ; but Major Brown de- 
murred, and wanted to " fight it out," when Farragut 
told him he could understand his feelings, and was the 
last man to advise a surrender as long as there was a 
hope of preventing it ; adding, with much feeling, " Gen- 



THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAY. 41 

tlemeu, if hard fighting could save that fort, I would 
advise you to fight to the death ; but, by all the laws of 
war, you have not even a chayice of saving it." The 
major admitted it was a forlorn hope, and finally agreed 
with his colonel that the surrender was necessary, and it 
was then and there agreed that it should take place on 
the following morning, at nine o'clock. 

The officers took a glass of wine together, and signed 
the surrender, and the meeting broke up. Captain Dray- 
ton and Major Montgomery being appointed by their 
respective chiefs to take possession of the fort on the 
morrow, in the name of the array and navy of the United 
States. 

Accordingly, at nine A. m. of the 7th, Drayton and 
Montgomery were admitted into the fort, and, an hour or 
two later, the besieging army, conducted by Montgomery, 
appeared before its walls. Then the garrison marched 
out and stacked their arms, and. the officers delivered up 
their swords, and Fort Gaines passed into Federal hands, 
striking its flag to the Navy. 

The Confederates were now embarked in transports 
and sent to New Orleans, while the Union troops, finding 
in the fort a large quantity of supplies, "regaled them- 
selves," according to Andrews, " with the best meal they 
had had since arriving on Dauphine Island, — corn- 
dodgers, fried bacon, and coffee." 

Immediately after the surrender of Fort Gaines, Fort 
Morgan was formally summoned by the admiral and Gen- 
eral Granger, the message from the former being deliv- 
ered in person to General Page, who commanded it, by 
Lieutenant J. Crittenden Watson, that of the latter by 
Major Montgomery. But General Page expressed his 



42 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

determination to defend his post to the last extremity, 
and preparations were therefore at once made by the com- 
bined forces to reduce it. 

" On the 9th, at daylight, General Granger's command, 
now re-enforced by the Twentieth Wisconsin, Thirty- 
eighth Iowa, and Ninety-fourth Illinois, embarked for 
Navy Cove, four miles from Fort Morgan, on the bay 
side." From this point they gradually advanced, until, 
by the 21st, — a siege train having previously arrived 
under Brigadier-General Richard Arnold, — the land 
forces had sixteen mortars and twenty-five cannon in 
position, within five hundred yards of the fort, the naval 
battery of four nine-inch Dahlgrens, manned by seamen 
taken from the Hartford, Brooklyn, Richmond, and Lack- 
awanna, and commanded by Lieutenant H. B. Tyson, 
being of the number. 

At daj'light on the 22d, the monitors and other vessels 
of the fleet took the stations assigned them north, souths 
and west of the fort, — the army being on the east, — so 
that it was completely invested. Then began one of the 
most furious bombardments that sailor or soldier has ever 
witnessed. It continued all day long without intermis- 
sion, but after sunset began to slacken, until, by nine at 
night, it had become slow and irregular. Just then, how- 
ever, a bright light shot up from the centre of the fort, 
and it was discovered that the citadel was on fire, when 
the besiegers sprung with renewed vigor to their guns, 
whose never-ceasing flashes fairly illumined the sky — six 
or eight mortar-shells could be seen in the air at once, 
while the thunder of the artillery was heard even in 
Mobile. 

Yet amid all the horrors of this disastrous night, with 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 43 

their walls breached, almost every piece of ordnance dis- 
abled, and the magazines endangered by the conflagra- 
tion, which raged fiercely for several hours, the garrison 
of Fort Morgan was not dismayed. Some of the soldiers 
applied themselves to throwing their powder into the cis- 
terns, others to spiking or destroying dismounted guns, 
while others again contended successfully with the de- 
vouring flames. Among these. Privates Murphy, Ben- 
bough, and Stevens, of the First Tennessee, were espe- 
cially commended by their general "for great courage 
and daring displayed." 

As day dawned, the citadel was again set on fire, and 
burned until it was consumed. To resist longer would 
have been madness, and at six A. M. a white flag was dis- 
played upon the parapet of the fort, when the firing of 
the Unionists ceased. 

At two in the afternoon the ceremony of surrender 
took place, and the brave garrison, whose loss had been 
between fifty and sixty in killed and wounded, was sent 
to New Orleans in the steamers Bienville and Tennessee. 

Thus the Confederate banner disappeared from view, 
and the whole of Mobile Bay was ours. 

Yet, remembering that of the actors in this strife all 
were Americans, we glory not in our brothers' defeat, 
rejoice not in our victory, save as these have tended to 
the restoration of the Union. 

God grant that when the next war comes, in every 
fight, whether by land or by sea, we may stand shoulder 
to shoulder and side by side, with the star-spangled ban- 
ner — the emblem of equal rights to all — waving above 
our heads, and not one single sectional flag to be seen 
upon the battle-field. \ 



44 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

God grant, too, that Farragut's name may ever be re- 
vered by his countrymen, and that, in remembrance of 
his glorious services, his patriotism, and his valor, the old 
Hartford be preserved by us, as the great English nation 
preserves Nelson's flag-ship, the Victory.!^ 



NOTES. 



Note 1. (Page 7.) 

Mauvila era Lugar fortificado. Tenia ochenta casas, aunque en 
cada una cabian mil Hombres : estaba en un llano, cercado de 
Maderas hincados, i otros atrevesados con Paja larga, i unas Que- 
brados, i Tierra, con que se hinchian los huecos, de manera, que 
parecia Muralla, 6 Pared enlucida con Liana de Albanir, i k cada 
ochenta pasos havia una Torre, adonde podian pelear ocho Hom- 
bres, i havia muchas Saeteras con dos puertas, i enmedio de el 
Lugar havia una gran Placa. — Hekreka. 



Note 2. (Page 7.) 

Tascaluja, sabiendo, por sus correos, que el Governador venia 
cerca, salio a recebirle fuera del Pueblo. Estava en un cerrillo 
alto, lugar eminente, de donde a todas partes se descubria mucha 
tierra. Tenia en su compania no mas de cien hombres Nobles, 
muy bien adereyados de ricas mantas de diversos aforros, con 
grandes plumages en las cabe9as conforme el trage, y usanya dellas. 
Todos cstavan en pie, solo Tascaluya estava sentado en una silla, 
de las que los Seiiores de aquellas tierras usan, que son de madera, 
una tercia, poco mas, 6 menos de alto, con algun concavo, para el 
asiento, sin espaldar, ni bra^eras, toda de una pieca. Cabe si 
tenia un Alferez con un gran Estandarte hecho de gamuca ama- 
rilla, con tres barras afules que lo partian de una parte a otra, 

45 



46 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

hecho al mismo talle, y forma de los Estandartes que en Espana 
traen las Compafiias de Cavallos. 

Fue cosa nueva para los Espanoles, ver Insignia Militar, porque 
hasta entonces no avian visto, Estandarte, Vandera, ni Guion. — 
Garcilaso i)e la Vega. 



Note 3. (Page 7.) 

El Capitan Diego de Soto Uego a lo mas recio de la batalla, y 
apenas havia entrado en ella, quando le dieron un flechafo por un 
ojo, que se salio al colodrillo, de que cayo luego en tierra, y sin 
habla estuvo agonicando hasta otro dia, que murio sin que huvie- 
sen podido quitarle la flecha. Esta fue la venganfa que hifo a 
su pariente Don Carlos, para mayor dolor, y perdida del General, 
y de todo el Exercito, porque eran dos Cavalleros, que dignamente 
merecian ser Sobrinos de tal Tio. — Garcilaso. 



Note 4. (Page 8.) 

Fort Morgan, at the entrance of Mobile Bay, was taken this 
morning by Alabama troops, and is now garrisoned by two hun- 
dred men. — The Press, January 5, 1861. 

The United States arsenal at Mobile was taken by the seces- 
sionists at daylight, this morning. It contained six stand of arms, 
fifteen hundred barrels of powder, three hundred thousand rounds 
of musket-cartridges, and other munitions of war. There was no 
defence. — Evening Post, January 7, 1861. 



Note 5. (Page 12.) 

The Natchez Courier of to-day says : " Fort Morgan welcomed 
the blockading fleet by displaying the United States flag, with the 
Union down, from the same staff, and below the Confederate 
flag. — Jfo?/ 27, 1861. 



NOTES. 47 

Note 6. (Page 14.) 

Of these " absurd rumors " the following is a specimen : 

Chicago, Thursday, July 31, (1863.) The Times has a special 
despatch, dated Memphis, 28th instant, which says : " Late ad- 
vices from the South, by rebel sources, are important. Ten iron- 
clad gunboats, built in England, and fully equipped, have arrived 
off Mobile harbor, and three more are on their way. These con- 
stitute a fleet, ordered by the Southern Confederacy, and purchased 
in Europe. They mount from ten to thirty guns each, and are 
said to be mailed with six-inch iron. The blockade was run 
openly, by the dint of superior strength and weight of metal. 
Mobile is now considered open to the commerce of the world,^ 
with the support of the newly-acquired power." 



Note 7. (Page 20.) 

While the Itasca was passing Fort Morgan, her commanding 
officer, Lieutenant-Commander George Brown, was struck by a 
splinter, which caused him for some moments great pain. " What 
is the matter. Brown ? " asked the executive officer of the Ossipee ; 
"have you been struck by a splinter?" "You may call it a 
splinter on your big vessel," roared Brown, in reply ; " but aboard 
this little craft it ranks as a log of wood." 



Note 8. (Page 26.) 

A curious incident of the passage of Fort Morgan is related by 
several officers : 

When the Tecumseh went down, the crew of the Hartford 
sprung upon her starboard hammock rail, and gave three loud, 
defiant cheers. This cheering was mistaken, by the crews of the 
vessels following the Hartford, as an indication of some advantage 
gained over the enemy, and taken up by them in succession. 



48 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

" I hailed the Lackawanna," says Captain McCann, who com- 
manded the Kennebec, " to learn the cause of the prolonged 
cheering. '■The Tecumsch Jias sunk the Tennessee!' some one 
replied, and in an instant, mij men were cheering as enthusiasti- 
cally as the others." 



Note 9. (Page 31.) 

" Not to have made mistakes," says Jomini, " is never to have 
commanded ; " yet the only Jlaio in Farragut's order of battle 
seems to have been his permitting the Oneida to bring up the rear. 
Our experience during the civil war showed that, in passing forts 
and batteries, the last vessel invariably got " peppered ; " there- 
fore, the starboard rear vessel of the column should have been one 
whose broadside was to be dreaded. Had the Richmond, for 
instance, whose fire is particularly commended " for precision, 
accuracy, and rapidity," been in the Oneida's place, the whole 
fleet would probably have passed the forts almost unscathed. 



Note 10. (Page 33.) 

Just as the Tennessee made for the fort, her ensign was shot 
away, creating the impression among the Unionists that she had 
surrendered, and great was their disappointment when they saw it 
go up again. 



Note 11. (Page 34.) 

When Farragut made signal Gunboats chase enennfs gunboats, 
Jouett was off in a moment. His vessel was very fast, but, owing 
to the fact that she drew much more water than the Confederate 
gunboats, he found himself, before long, dragrjing the bottom. The 
executive officer. Lieutenant Sleeper, than whom no cooler man 
lived, reported to him that the Metacomet had a foot less loater 
under her bottom than her draught. This was startling; for, 



NOTES. 49 

should the vessel ground hard, the pursued might return upon the 
pursuer, and change the game somewhat. " Call the leadsmen in 
from the chains, Mr. Sleeper ! " ordered Jouett. Mr. Sleeper 
looked amazed. " I tell you," said Jouett, who idolized Farragut, 
and was a strict constructionist, " the admiral has directed me to 
follow those gunboats, and I am going to do it. Call the men in 
from the chains at once, sir ; they are demoralizing me ! " At 
this the crew, who knew their commander well, set up a loud 
laugh, and the Metacomet continued in pursuit, with the result 
we know. 



Note 12. (Page 34.) 

While the gallantry of Buchanan's attack upon the Union fleet 
must be acknowledged, it was certainly most Quixotic to make it. 
" C'est magnijiqtoe" said an old French officer who witnessed the 
charge of " The Five Hundred," " mais ce n^ est pas la guerre." 



Note 13. (Page 37.) 

The shot which gave the coup de grace to the Tennessee was 
that which destroyed her steering-gear. The credit of firing it 
has been claimed for several vessels, and there is no positive evi- 
dence regarding it ; but the general opinion of those who were 
actors in the strife confers the honor upon the Chickasaw ; and 
the verdict is justified, I think, by the report of the board of offi- 
cers who held a " strict and careful survey " upon the ram, a few 
days after the action. The difficulty of establishing a matter of 
this kind beyond cavil is shown in the fact that several of our 
commanders lay claim to the honor of shooting away the Ten- 
nessee's smoke-stack, while Captain Johnston says (page 76) : 
" At about the same time, the smoke-pipe, which had been riddled 
by shot, was broken close off to the top of the shield, or upper 
deck, hy the concussion produced by the ramming process adopted 
hy the heavy vessels of the enemy,^'' &c., &c. 
4 



50 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

Note 14. (Page 37.) 

As the opinion has been very generally expressed, that Bu- 
chanan should have made his attack on the Union fleet after 
nightfall, the following extract from a little memorandum-book, 
carried by Farragut in his pocket on that memorable 5th of Au- 
gust, is of great interest, as showing that our admiral was pre- 
pared for every emergency : " Had Buchanan remained under the 
fort, I should have attacked him as soon as it became so dark as 
to prevent Page, amid the smoke of our guns, from distinguishing 
friend from foe. I intended to go in with the three monitors — 
myself on board the Manhattan." 



Note 15. (Page 39.) 

It will be observed that General Maury, in his official reports, 
expresses great indignation at the "precipitate" evacuation of 
Fort Powell, and the surrender of Fort Gaines ; yet it appears 
more than probable that, in the light of after experience, this dis- 
tinguished officer's views must have been materially modified. 

As to Lieutenant-Colonel Williams, there can be no doubt that 
he acted wisely and prudently ; for, had he remained in Fort 
Powell, the monitors Chickasaw and Winnebago, and the light- 
draught gunboats moving up, on August 6th, to within a few hun- 
dred yards of its eastern face, and crossing their fire with De 
Kraft's flotilla outside, would have forced a surrender in less than 
twelve hours, and the garrison, which Williams saved for the de- 
fence of Mobile, have fallen into our hands. 

With regard to forts Morgan and Gaines, the question seems 
to be one purely of time. If there had been a Confederate ar77iy 
marching to the relief of Mobile, it would undoubtedly have been 
the duty of General Page and Colonel Anderson to hold their forts 
to the last extremity ; but so far was this from being the case, 
that General Maury, according to his own statement, was at that 



NOTES. 51 

very time sending reinforcements to co-operate with Forrest in 
holding in check " a force of fifteen thousand men advancing down 
the Mississippi Central road," while only one thousand " reserves " 
could be mustered to aid the scanty garrison of four thousand 
soldiers, citizens, and militia manning the works about Mobile. 
Remembering, then, that Fort Morgan held out only one day after 
it was fully invested, the thoughtful reader cannot fail to be im- 
pressed with the idea that General Page would have done well had 
he blown up Fort Morgan as soon as the Union fleet was in undis- 
puted possession of Mobile Bay, and marched his troops to Mo- 
bile ; and that Colonel Anderson's duty to his soldiers, many of 
whom were mere boys, required him to act, under the circum- 
stances, precisely as he did. 



Note 16. (Page 44.) 

The following trova of Mossen Jaime Febrer, an Arragonese 
troubadour of the thirteenth century, will doubtless be of interest 
to many readers, since it relates to Don Pedro Ferragut, one of 
the " conquerors " of Majorca, from whom our Farragut is said to 
have descended. 

Pedko Fekkagut. 
Troba 237. 
Sobre camp bermell una ferradura 
De finisim or, ab un clav daurat, 
Pere Ferragut pinta, e en tal figura 
Esplica lo agnom. La historia asegura 
Ser aragones, de Jaca baixat. 
Apres que en Mallorca servi de sargent, 
Yenint a Valencia, hon gran renom guanya 
De expert capita per lo dilitgent ; 
Los anys, e sucesos lo feven prudent 
Te en lo pelear gran cordura e manya, 
Perque d totes amies facilment se apanya. 



52 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 



The above may be rendered into English thus : Peter Fer- 
ragut, in order that all might know his agnomen, painted upon the 
vermilion of his shield a golden nail and horse-shoe. 

History informs us that he was born in Jaca, in Aragon. After 
serving as a sergeant in Mallorca, he went to Valencia, where he 
gained great renown as a captain whose age and experience had 
made him at once adventurous and prudent. He was famous for 
his skill in the use of arms, and for his great amiability in battle. 




THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 63 



BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

BY COMMODORE THOMAS H. STEVENS, V. S. N. 

Fair broke the morn off Mobile Bay ; 
On Morgan's crest its first beams play ; 
O'er stately ships, and mirrored deep, 
The blushes of the morning creep. 

Fair broke the morn ; on distant strand 
The rippling waters kiss the land ; 
The spirit of repose rests there. 
To greet the morn so bright, so fair. 

O, Morn of Peace ! no token thou 
Of changing scene that greets us now. 
Like phantom craft, at given sign. 
The stately ships swing into line. 

Stately and grand, in dark array, 
Slow moves the Fleet for Mobile Bay ; 
With the first beam of morning sun 
Booms o'er the sea the signal gun. 

With the first beam of morning sun, 
With the first flash of signal gun. 
Fierce broke the battle's angry blast, 
Through riven hull and shivered mast. 



64' THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

The red-lipped guns their missiles sent 
From ships to forts and battlement ; 
And fiercer, angrier than before, 
Like voice of storms, the battle's roar. 

Still swells the storm ; no line of fire 
Stops the stout heart from its desire ; 
Resistless as the march of Fate, 
Slow moves the Fleet to Mobile's Gate. 

Slow moves the Fleet : what stops the way, 
To bring disaster on the day ? 
Who dares to deeds of high emprise 
Counts not the cost, nor sacrifice ! 

To these high praise and meed belong 
From the celestial sons of song ; 
Who nobly dares, like Craven strives, 
Shall live immortal as the skies. 

Dark grew the day ; beneath the wave 
Bold Craven finds a warrior's grave ; 
Confused, defenceless, helpless, lay 
The Union Fleet near Mobile Bay. 

Quickly did foeman's eye discern 
The changing tide of battle turn ; 
On iron ships, on ships of oak. 
Anew the scathing tempest broke. 

Great souls with the occasion rise, 
Inspired by Him who rules the skies ; 
With faith unshaken, clear eyes see 
The means and path to victory. 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 55 

Lashed to the mast, our great chief saw 
The coming crisis of the war ; 
Quick to divine, and firm as rock. 
His great soul rose to meet the shock. 

Then from aloft was heard the cry, 
" Forward ! Why linger here to die ? " 
We saw the Hartford lead the way — 
The ships once more in firm array. 

Forward and onward sweeps the Fleet, 
By battered forts, fresh foes to meet ; 
O'er sunken mines, that strew the bay, 
Through shot and shell, that round us play. 

Like lions, crouching in their lair, 
The foemen's ships in wait lie there, — 
With raking cannon guard the way. 
Where lay our course, up Mobile Bay. 

Short, sharp, decisive was the stroke, 
As through their serried line we broke ; 
Victorious, at noon of day, 
Anchored our Fleet in Mobile Bay. 



APPENDIX. 



yi*<o 



ATTACK ON THE DEFENCES OF MOBILE. 
Detailed Report of Rear-Admiral D. G. Farragut. 

United States Flag-Ship Hartford, ) 
Mobile Bat, August 12, 18G4. 5 

SiK : I had the honor to forward to the department, 
on the evening of the 5th instant, a report of my entree 
into Mobile Bay, on the morning of that day, and which, 
though brief, contained all the principal facts of the 
attack. 

Notwithstanding the loss of life, particularly on this 
ship, and the terrible disaster to the Tecumseh, the result 
of the fight was a glorious victor}^, and I have reason to 
feel proud of the ofBcers, seamen, and marines of the 
squadron under my command, for it has never fallen to 
the lot of an ofiQcer to be thus situated and thus sus- 
tained. 

Regular discipUne will bring men to any amount of 
endurance, but there is a natural fear of hidden dangers, 
particularly when so awfully destructive of human life as 
the torpedo, which requires more than discipline to over- 
come. 

57 



58 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

Preliminary to a report of the action of the fifth, I 
desire to call the attention of the department to the pre- 
vious steps taken in consultation with Generals Canby 
and Granger. On the 8th of July I had an interview 
with these officers on board the Hartford, on the subject 
of an attack upon forts Morgan and Gaines, at which it 
was agreed that General Canby would send all the troops 
he could spare to co-operate with the fleet. Circum- 
stances soon obliged General Canby to inform me that he 
could not dispatch a sufficient number to invest both 
forts ; and, in reply, I suggested that Gaines should be 
first invested, engaging to have a force in the sound 
ready to protect the landing of the army on Dauphine 
Island, in the rear of that fort, and I assigned Lieu- 
tenant-Commander De Kraft, of the Conemaugh, to that 
duty. 

On the 1st instant General Granger visited me again 
on the Hartford. In the meantime the Tecumseh had 
arrived at Pensacola, and Captain Craven had informed 
me that he would be ready in four days for any service- 
We therefore fixed upon the 4th of August as the day 
for the landing of the troops and my entrance into the 
bay, but owing to delays mentioned in Captain Jenkins' 
communication to me, the Tecumseh was not ready. 
General Granger, however, to my mortification, was up 
to time, and the troops actually landed on Dauphine 
Island. 

As subsequent events proved, the delay turned to our 
advantage, as the rebels were busily engaged during the 
4th in throwing troops and supplies into Fort Gaines, all 
of which were captured a few days afterward. 

The Tecumseh arrived on the evening of the 4th, and 



APPENDIX. 59 

everything being propitious, I proceeded to the attack on 
the following morning. 

As mentioned in my previous despatch, the vessels out- 
side the bar, which were designed to participate in the 
engagement, were all under way by forty minutes past 
five in the morning, in the following order, two abreast, 
and lashed together: — Brooklyn, Captain James Aklen, 
with the Octorora, Lieutenant-Commander C. H. Green, 
on the port side ; Hartford, Captain Percival Drayton, 
with the Metacomet, Lieutenant-Commander J. E. Jouett; 
Richmond, Captain T. A. Jenkins, with the Port Royal, 
Lieutenant-Commander B. Gherardi; Lackawanna, Cap- 
tain J. B. Marchand, with the Seminole, Commander E. 
Donaldson ; Monongahela, Commander J. H. Strong, with 
the Kennebec, Lieutenant-Commander W. P. McCann ; 
Ossipee, Commander W. E. Le Roy, with the Itasca, 
Lieutenant-Commander George Brown ; Oneida, Com- 
mander J. R. M. Mullany, with the Galena, Lieutenant- 
Commander C. H. Wells. The iron-clads — Tecumseh, 
Commander T. A. M. Craven ; the Manhattan, Com- 
mander J. W. A. Nicholson ; the Winnebago, Commander 
T. H. Stevens; and the Chickasaw, Lieutenant-Com- 
mander G. H. Perkins — were already inside the bar, and 
Had been ordered to take up their positions on the star- 
board side of the wooden ships, or between them and 
Fort Morgan, for the double purpose of keeping down the 
fire from the water battery and the parapet guns of the 
fort, as well as to attack the ram Tennessee as soon as 
the fort was passed. 

It was only at the urgent request of the captains and 
commanding officers that I 3'ielded to the Brooklyn being 
the leading ship of the line, as she had four chase guns 



60 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

and an ingenious arrangement for picking up torpedoes, 
and because, in their judgment, the flag-ship ought not to 
be too much exposed. This I believe to be an error ; 
for, apart from the fact that exposure is one of the pen- 
alties of rank in the navy, it will always be the aim of 
the enemy to destroy the flag-ship, and, as will appear in 
the sequel, such attempt was very persistently made, but 
Providence did not permit it to be successful. 

The attacking fleet steamed steadily up the main ship- 
channel, the Tecumseh firing the first shot at forty-seven 
minutes past six o'clock. At six minutes past seven the 
fort opened upon us, and was replied to by a gun from 
the Brooklyn, and immediately after the action became 
general. 

It was soon apparent that there was some difficulty 
ahead. The Brooklyn, for some cause which I did not 
then clearly understand, but which has since been ex- 
plained by Captain Alden in his report, arrested the 
advance of the whole fleet, while, at the same time, the 
guns of the fort were playing with great effect upon that 
vessel and the Hartford. A moment after I saw the 
Tecumseh, struck by a torpedo, disappear almost instan- 
taneously beneath the waves, carrying with her her gal- 
lant commander and nearly all her crew. I determined 
at once, as I had originally intended, to take the lead; 
and after ordering the Metacomet to send a boat to save, 
if possible, any of the perisliing crew, I dashed ahead 
with the Hartford, and the ships followed on, their offi- 
cers believing that they were going to a noble death with 
their commander-in-chief. 

I steamed through between the buoys, where the tor- 
pedoes were supposed to have been sunk. These buoys 



APPENDIX. 61 

had been previously examined by my flag-lieutenant, J. 
Crittenden Watson, in several nightly reconnoissances. 
Though he had not been able to discover the sunken tor- 
pedoes, yet we had been assured, by refugees, deserters, 
and others, of their existence ; but believing that, from 
their having been some time in the water, they were prob- 
ably innocuous, I determined to take the chance of their 
explosion. 

From the moment I turned to the northward, to clear 
the middle ground, we were enabled to keep such a 
broadside fire upon the batteries of Fort Morgan, that 
their guns did us comparatively little injury. 

Just after we passed the fort, which was about ten 
minutes before eight o'clock, the ram Tennessee dashed 
out at this ship, as had been expected, and in anticipation 
of which I had ordered the monitors on our starboard 
side. I took no further notice of her than to return 
her fire. 

The rebel gunboats Morgan, Gaines, and Selma were 
ahead; and the latter particularly annoyed us with a 
raking fire, which our guns could not return. At two 
minutes after eight o'clock I ordered the Metacomet to 
cast off and go in pursuit of the Selma. Captain Jouett 
was after her in a moment, and in an hour's time he had 
her as a prize. She was commanded by P. V. Murph}', 
formerly of the United States navy. He was wounded 
in the wrist, his executive officer, Lieutenant Comstock, 
and eight of the crew killed, and seven or eight wounded. 
Lieutenant-Commander Jouett's conduct during the whole 
affair commands my warmest commendations. The Mor- 
gan and Gaines succeeded in escaping under the protec- 
tion of the guns of Fort Morgan, which would have been 



62 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

prevented had the other gunboats been as prompt in their 
movements as the Metacomet; the want of pilots, how- 
ever, I believe, was the principal difficulty. The Gaines 
was so injured by our fire that she had to be run ashore, 
where she was subsequently destroyed ; but the Morgan 
escaped to Mobile during the night, though she was 
chased and fired upon by our cruisers. 

Having passed the forts and dispersed the enemy's 
gunboats, I had ordered most of the vessels to anchor, 
when I perceived the ram Tennessee standing up for this 
ship. This was at forty-five minutes past eight. I was 
not long in comprehending Buchanan's intentions to be 
the destruction of the flag-ship. The monitors, and such 
of the wooden vessels as I thought best adapted for 
the purpose, were immediately ordered to attack the 
ram, not only with their guns, but bows on at full 
speed ; and then began one of the fiercest naval combats 
on record. 

The Monongahela, Commander Strong, was the first 
vessel that struck her, and in doing so carried away her 
own iron prow, together with the cutwater, without ap- 
parently doing her adversary much injury. The Lack- 
awanna, Captain Marchand, was the next vessel to strike 
her, which she did at full speed ; but though her stern 
was cut and crushed to the plank ends for the distance of 
three feet above the water's edge to five feet below, the 
only perceptible effect on the ram was to give her a heavy 
list. 

The Hartford was the third vessel which struck her, 
but, as the Tennessee quickly shifted her helm, the blow 
was a glancing one, and, as she rasped along our side, we 
poured our whole port broadside of nine-inch solid shot 
within ten feet of her casement. 



APPENDIX. 63 

The monitors worked slowly, but delivered their fire as 
opportunity offered. The Chickasaw succeeded in get- 
ting under her stern, and a fifteen-inch shot from the 
Manhattan broke through her iron plating and heavy 
wooden backing, though the missile itself did not enter 
the vessel. 

Immediately after the collision with the flag-ship, I 
directed Captain Drayton to bear down for the ram again. 
He was doing so at full speed, when, unfortunately, the 
Lackawanna ran into the Hartford just forward of the 
mizzen-mast, cutting her down to within two feet of the 
water's edge. We soon got clear again, however, and 
were fast approaching our adversary, when she struck her 
colors and ran up the white flag. 

She was at this time sore beset; the Chickasaw was 
pounding away at her stern, the Ossipee was approaching 
her at full speed, and the Monongahela, Lackawanna, 
and this ship were bearing down upon her, determined 
upon her destruction. Her smoke-stack had been shot 
away, her steering chains were gone, compelling a resort 
to her relieving tackles, and several of her port-shutters 
were jammed. Indeed, from the time the Hartford struck 
her until her surrender, she never fired a gun. As the 
Ossipee, Commander Le Roy, was about to strike her, she 
hoisted the white flag, and that vessel immediately 
stopped her engine, though not in time to avoid a 
glancing blow. 

During this contest with the rebel gunboats and the 
ram Tennessee, and which terminated by her surrender at 
ten o'clock, we lost many more men than from the fire of 
the batteries of Fort Morgan. 

Admiral Buchanan was wounded in the leg ; two or 



64 THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAY. 

three of his men were killed, and five or six wounded. 
Commander Johnston, formerly of the United States 
navy, was in command of the Tennessee, and came on 
board the flag-ship to surrender his sword, and that of 
Admiral Buchanan. The surgeon. Doctor Conrad, came 
with him, stated the condition of the admiral, and wished 
to know what was to be done with him. Fleet Surgeon 
Palmer, who was on board the Hartford during the ac- 
tion, commiserating the sufferings of the wounded, sug- 
gested that those of both sides be sent to Pensacola, 
where they could be properly cared for. I therefore 
addressed a note to Brigadier-General R. L. Page, com- 
manding Fort Morgan, informing him that Admiral Bu- 
chanan and others of the Tennessee had been wounded, 
and desiring to know whether he would permit one of 
our vessels, under a flag of truce, to convey them, with 
or without our wounded, to Pensacola, on the under- 
standing that the vessel should take out none but the 
wounded, and bring nothing back that she did not take 
out. This was acceded to by General Page, and the 
Metacomet proceeded on this mission of humanity. 

I inclose herewith the correspondence with that officer 
(marked numbers one, two, three, and four.) I forward 
also the reports (marked numbers five, six, seven, eight, 
nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, six- 
teen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, and twenty- 
one) of the commanding officers of the vessels who par- 
ticipated in the action, and who will no doubt call atten- 
tion to the conduct of such individuals as most distin- 
guished themselves. 

As I had an elevated position in the main rigging near 
the top, I was able to overlook not only the deck of the 



APPENDIX. 65 

Hartford, but the other vessels of the fleet. I witnessed 
the terrible effects of the enemy's shot, and the good con- 
duct of the men at their guns, and although no doubt 
their hearts sickened, as mine did, when their shipmates 
were struck down beside them, yet there was not a mo- 
ment's hesitation to lay their comrades aside, and spring 
again to their deadly work. 

Our little consort, the Metacomet, was also under my 
immediate eye during the whole action up to the moment 
I ordered her to cast off in pursuit of the Selma. The 
coolness and promptness of Lieutenant-Commander Jouett 
throughout merit high praise ; his whole conduct was 
worthy of his reputation. 

In this connection I must not omit to call the attention 
of the department to the conduct of Acting Ensign 
Henry C. Nields, of the Metacomet, who liad charge of 
the boat sent from that vessel when the Tecumseh sank. 
He took her in under one of the most galling fires I ever 
saw, and succeeded in rescuing from death ten of her 
crew, within six hundred yards of the fort. I would 
respectfully recommend his advancement. 

The commanding officers of all the vessels who took 
part in the action deserve my warmest commendations, 
not only for the untiring zeal with which they had pre- 
pared their ships for the contest, but for their skill and 
daring in carrying out my orders during the engagement. 
With the exception of the momentary arrest of the fleet 
when the Hartford passed ahead, and to which I have 
already adverted, the order of battle was preserved, and 
the ships followed each other in close order past the bat- 
teries of Fort Morgan, and in comparative safety too, 
with the exception of the Oneida. Her boilers were pen- 
5 



66 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

etrated by a shot from the fort, which completely disabled 
her ; but her consort, the Galena, firmly fastened to her 
side, brought her safely through, showing clearly the 
wisdom of the precaution of carrying the vessels in two 
abreast. Commander Mullany, who had solicited eagerly 
to take part in the action, was severely wounded, losing 
his left arm. 

In the encounter with the ram the commanding officers 
obeyed with alacrity the order to run her down, and 
without hesitation exposed their ships to destruction to 
destroy the enemy. 

Our iron-clads, from their slow speed and bad steering, 
had some difficulty in getting into and maintaining their 
position in line as we passed the fort, and, in the sub- 
sequent encounter with the Tennessee, from the same 
causes were not as effective as could have been desired ; 
but I cannot give too much praise to Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Perkins, who, though he had orders from the 
department to return north, volunteered to take com- 
mand of the Chickasaw, and did his duty nobly. 

The Winnebago was commanded by Commander T. H. 
Stevens, who volunteered for that position. His vessel 
steers very badly, and neither of his turrets will work, 
which compelled him to turn his vessel every time to get 
a shot, so that he could not fire very often, but he did the 
best he could under the circumstances. 

The Manhattan appeared to work well, though she 
moved slowly. Commander Nicholson delivered liis fire 
deliberately, and, as before stated, with one of his fifteen- 
inch shot broke through the armor of the Tennessee, 
with its wooden backing, though the shot itself did not 
enter the vessel. No other shot broke through the armor, 



APPENDIX. 67 

though many of her plates were started, and several of 
her port-shutters jammed by the fire from the different 
ships. 

The Hartford, my flag-ship, was commanded by Cap- 
tain Percival Drayton, who exhibited throughout that 
coolness and ability for which he has been long known to 
his brother officers. But I must speak of that officer in 
a double capacity. He is the fleet-captain of my squad- 
ron, and one of more determined energy, untiring devo- 
tion to duty, and zeal for the service, tempered by great 
calmness, I do not think adorns any navy. I desire to 
call your attention to this officer, though well aware that 
in thus speaking of his high qualities, I am only commu- 
nicating officially to the department that which it knew 
full well before. To him, and to my staff in their re- 
spective positions, I am indebted for the detail of my 
fleet. 

Lieutenant J. Crittenden Watson, my flag-lieutenant, 
has been brought to your notice in former despatches. 
During the action he was on the poop attending to the 
signals, and performed his duties, as might be expected, 
thoroughly. He is a scion worthy the noble stock he 
sprang from, and I commend him to your attention. 

My secretary, Mr. McKinley, and Acting Ensign H. H. 
Brownell, were also on the poop, the latter taking notes 
of the action, a duty which he performed with coolness 
and accuracy. 

Two other acting ensigns of my staff, Mr. Bogart and 
Mr. Heginbotham, were on duty in the powder division, 
and, as the reports will show, exhibited zeal and ability. 
The latter, I regret to add, was severely wounded by a 
raking shot from the Tennessee when we collided with 



68 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

that vessel, and died a few hours after. Mr. Heginbotham 
was a young married man, and has left a widow and one 
child, whom I commend to the kindness of the de- 
partment. 

Lieutenant A. R. Yates, of the Augusta, acted as an 
additional aid to me on board the Hartford, and was very 
efficient in the transmission of orders. I have given 
him the command temporarily of the captured steamer 
Selma. 

The last of my staff, and to whom I would call the 
attention of the department, is not the least in impor- 
tance. I mean Pilot Martin Freeman. He has been my 
great reliance in all difficulties in his line of duty. Dur- 
ing the action he was in the main-top, piloting the ships 
into the bay. He was cool and brave throughout, never 
losing his self-possession. This man was captured early 
in the war in a fine fishing-smack which he owned, and 
though he protested that he had no interest in the war, 
find only asked for the privilege of fishing for the fleet, 
yet his services were too valuable to the captors as a pilot 
not to be secured. He was appointed a first-class pilot, 
and has served us with zeal and fidelity, and has lost his 
vessel, which went to pieces on Ship Island. I commend 
him to the department. 

It gives me pleasure to refer to several officers who 
volunteered to take any situation where they might be 
useful, some of whom were on their way north, either 
by orders of the department or condemned by medical 
survey. The reports of the different commanders will 
show how they conducted themselves. I have already 
mentioned Lieutenant-Commander Perkins, of the Chick- 
asaw, and Lieutenant Yates, of the Augusta. Acting 



APPENDIX. 69 

Volunteer Lieutenant William Hamilton, late command- 
ing officer of the Augusta Dinsmore, had been invalided 
by medical survey, but he eagerly offered his services on 
board the iron-clad Chickasaw, having had much experi- 
ence in our monitors. Acting Volunteer Lieutenant P. 
Giraud, another experienced officer in iron-clads, asked to 
go in on one of these vessels, but as they were all well 
supplied with officers, I permitted him to go in on the 
Ossipee, under Commander Le Roy. After the action he 
was given temporary charge of the ram Tennessee. 

Before closing this report, there is one other officer of 
my squadron of whom I feel bound to speak, — Captain 
T. A. Jenkins, of the Richmond, who was formerly my 
chief of staff, not because of his having held that po- 
sition, but because he never forgets to do his duty to the 
government, and takes now the same interest in the fleet 
as when he stood in that relation to me. " He is also the 
commanding officer of the second division of my squad- 
ron, and, as such, has shown ability and the most untiring 
zeal. He carries out the spirit of one of Lord Colling- 
wood's best sajdngs : " Not to be afraid of doing too 
much; those who are, seldom do as much as they ought." 
When in Pensacola, he spent days on the bar, placing the 
buoys in the best position, was always looking after the 
interests of the service, and keeping the vessels from 
being detained one moment longer in port than was ne- 
cessary. The gallant Craven told me, only the night 
before the action in which he lost his life : " I regret, 
admiral, that I have detained you ; but had it not been 
for Captain Jenkins, God knows when I should have been 
here. When your order came, I had not received an 
ounce of coal." 



70 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

I feel I should not be doing my duty did I not call the 
attention of the department to an officer who has per- 
formed all his various duties with so much zeal and 
fidelity. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

D. G. FARRAGUT, 
Commanding W. Cr. Blockading Squadron. 

Hon. Gideon Welles, 

Secretary of the Navy. 



APPENDIX. 71 



THE NAVAL FIGHT IN MOBILE BAY. 

August 5, 1864. 



Official Report of Admiral Buchanan. 

United States Naval Hospital, Pensacola. ) 
August 26, 1864. 5 

Sir : I have the honor to inform you that the enemy's 
fleet, under Admiral Farragut, consisting of fourteen 
steamers and four monitors, passed Fort Morgan on tlie 
5th instant, about 6.30 A. M., in the following order,, and 
stood into Mobile Bay : — The four monitors, Tecumseh 
and Manhattan, each carrying two fifteen-inch guns, the 
Winnebago and Chickasaw, each carrying four eleven- 
inch guns, in a single line ahead, about half a mile from 
the fort. The fourteen steamers, — Brooklyn, of twenty- 
six ; Octorora, ten ; Hartford, twenty-eight ; Metacomet, 
ten ; Richmond, twenty-four ; Port Royal, eight ; Lack- 
awanna, fourteen ; Seminole, nine ; Monongahela, twelve ; 
Kennebec, five ; Ossipee, thirteen; Itasca, four; Oneida, 
ten; and Galena, fourteen guns, — in a double line ahead, 
each two lashed together, the side-wheel steamers off 
shore, all about one-quarter of a mile from the monitors, — 
carrying in all one hundred and ninety-nine guns and 
twenty-seven hundred men. When they were discovered 
standing into the channel, signal was made to the Mobile 



72 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

squadron, under my command, consisting of the wooden 
gunboats Morgan and Gaines, each carrying six guns, and 
Selma, four, to " follow my motions " in the ram Ten- 
nessee, of six guns, — in all twenty-two guns, and four 
hundred and seventy men. All were soon under way, 
and stood towards the enemy in a line abreast. As the 
Tennessee approached the fleet, when opposite the fort, 
we opened our battery at short range upon the leading 
ship, the admiral's flag-ship Hartford, and made the at- 
tempt to run into her, but, owing to her superior speed, 
our attempt was frustrated. We then stood towards the 
next heavy ship, the Brooklyn, with the same view ; she 
also avoided us by her superior speed. During this time 
the gunboats were also closely engaged Avith the enemy. 
All our guns were used to the greatest advantage, and 
we succeeded in seriously damaging many of the enemy's 
vessels. 

The Selma and Gaines, under Lieutenant-Commandants 
P. U. Murphy and J. W. Bennett, fought gallantly, and 
I was gratified to hear from officers of the enemy's fleet 
that their fire was very destructive. The Gaines was 
fought until she was found to be in a sinking condition, 
when she was run on shore near Fort Morgan. 

Lieutenant-Commandant Murphy was closely engaged 
with the Metacomet, assisted by the Morgan, Commander 
G. W. Harrison, who during the conflict deserted him, 
when, upon the approach of another large steamer, the 
Selma surrendered. I refer you to the report of Lieu- 
tenant-Commandant Murphy for the particulars of his 
action ; he lost two promising young officers. Lieutenant 
Comstock and Master's Mate IMurray, and a number 
of his men were killed and wounded, and he was also. 



APPENDIX. ' 73 

wounded severely in the wrist.* Commander Harrison 
will no doubt report to the department his reason for 
leaving the Selma in that contest with the enemy, as the 
Morgan was uninjured ; his conduct is severely com- 
mented on by the officers of the enemy's fleet, much to 
the injury of that officer and the navy. Soon after the 
gunboats were dispersed by the overwhelming superiority 
of force, and the enemy's fleet had anchored about four 
miles above Fort Morgan, we stood for them again, in the 
Tennessee, and renewed the attack, with the hope of 
sinking some of them with our prow ; again we were 
foiled by their superior speed in avoiding us. The en- 
gagement with the whole fleet soon became general at 
very close quarters, and lasted about an hour ; and, not- 
withstanding the serious injurj^ inflicted upon many of 
their vessels by our guns, we could not sink them. Fre- 
quently during the contest we were surrounded by the 
enemy, and all our guns were in action almost at the 
same moment. 

Four of the heaviest vessels ran into us under full 
steam, with the view of sinking us. One vessel, the Mo- 
nongahela, had been prepared as a ram, and was very for- 
midable ; she struck us with great force, injuring us but 
little ; her prow and stem were knocked off, and the ves- 
sel was so much injured as to make it necessary to dock 
her. Several of the other vessels of the fleet were found 
to require extensive repairs. I enclose you a copy of a 
drawing of the Brooklyn, made by one of her officers 
after the action, and an officer of the Hartford informed 
me that she was more seriously injured than the Brooklyn. 

* A Court of Inquiry exonerated Commander Harrison from blame in 
tliis affair. F. A. P. 



74 THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAY. 

I mention these facts to prove that the guns of the Ten- 
nessee were not idle during this unequal contest. For 
other details of the action, and injuries sustained by the 
Tennessee, I refer you to the report of Commander J. D. 
Johnston, which has my approval. After I was carried 
below, unfortunately wounded, I had to be governed b}' 
the reports of that valuable officer as to the condition of 
the ship, and the necessity and time of her surrender; and 
when he represented to me her utterly hopeless condition 
to continue the fight with injury to the enemy, and sug- 
gested her surrender, I directed him to do the best he 
could, and when he could no longer damage the enemy, 
to do so. 

It affords me much pleasure to state that the officers 
and men cheerfully fought their guns to the best of their 
abilities, and gave strong evidence, b}^ their promptness 
in executing orders, of their willingness to continue the 
contest as long as they could stand to their guns, not- 
withstanding the fatigue they had undergone for several 
hours ; and it was only because the circumstances were as 
represented by Captain Johnston, that she was surren- 
dered to the fleet about ten A. M., painful as it was to do 
so. I seriously felt the want of experienced officers dur- 
ing the action ; all were young and inexperienced, and 
many had but little familiarity v/ith naval duties, having 
been appointed from civil life within the year. 

The reports of Commander Harrison, of the Morgan, 
and Lieutenant-Commandant Bennett, of the Gaines, you 
have, no doubt, received from these officers. I enclose 
the report of Fleet-Surgeon D. B. Conrad, to whom I am 
much indebted for his skill, promptness, and attention to 
the wounded. By permission of Admiral Farragut, he 



APPENDIX. 75 

accompanied the wounded of the Tennessee and Selma to 
this hospital, and is assisted by Assistant-Surgeons Booth 
and Bowles of the Selma and Tennessee, all under the 
charge of Fleet-Surgeon Palmer, of the United States 
navy, from whom we have received all the attention and 
consideration we could desire or expect. 

The crews, and many officers of the Tennessee and 
Selma, have been sent to New Orleans. Commander J. 
D. Johnston, Lieutenant-Commandant P. U. Murphy, 
Lieutenants W. L. Bradford and A. D. Wharton, Second 
Assistant Engineer J. C. O'Connell, and myself, are to be 
sent north. Master's Mates, W. S. Forrest and R. M. 
Carter, who are with me acting as my aids, not having 
any midshipmen, are permitted to accompany me. They 
are valuable young officers, zealous in their duties, and 
both have served in the army, where they received honor- 
able wounds ; their services are important to me. I am 
happy to inform you that my wound is improving, and I 
sincerely hope our exchange will be effected, and that I 
will soon again be on duty. 

Enclosed is a list of the officers of the Tennessee who 
were in the action. 

September llth. Since writing the above, I have seen 
the report of Admiral Farragut, a portion of which is 
incorrect. Captain Johnston did not deliver my sword 
on board the Hartford. After the surrender of the Ten- 
nessee, Captain Giraud, the officer who was sent on board 
to take charge of her, said to me that he was directed by 
Admiral Farragut to ask for my sword, which was brought 
from the cabin and delivered to him by one of my aids. 

ADMIRAL F. BUCHANAN, commanding. 



76 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 



EXTRACT 

FROM A LETTER OF COMMANDER J. D. JOHNSTON TO 
THE EDITOR OF THE "PLANTATION," AUGUST 5, 1871. 

" The steering apparatus of the ship was defective from 
the first, and it seemed almost impracticable to j)rotect it 
against the inevitable destruction which awaited it in 
such an engagement. The enemy having discovered, 
when running into the ship, that the chains leading to the 
rudder-head were exposed on the after-deck, turned his 
attention especially to their destruction, which was of 
course easily effected at such close quarters. At about 
the same time, the smoke-pipe, which had been riddled 
by shot, was broken close off to the top of the shield, or 
upper deck, by the concussion produced by the ramming 
process adopted by the heavy vessels of the enemy, and 
the smoke and heat issuing from the broken pipe came 
down upon the men at the guns with almost insupportable 
effect. 

" The ports of the ship were covered when the guns 
were run in for loading, by heavy iron covers, which re- 
volved on pivots; but it unfortunately happened that 
those of the bow and stern ports were so jammed against 
the side of the shield by the enemy's shot, that it became 
impossible to move them, and it was while superintending 
a mechanic who was endeavoring to back out one of these 
pivot bolts, so as to bring the stern gun into action again, 



APPENDIX. 77 

that Admiral Buchanan received a wound in his leg, 
which disabled him completely. The poor machinist was 
crushed by the same shot so that his remains had the ap- 
pearance of sausage meat, and one of the gun's crew was 
also killed by an iron splinter. After the wheel chains 
leading to the rudder-head were destroyed, the ' relieving 
tackles ' were used to steer the ship, but she was not long 
permitted to avail herself of this expedient, a shot having 
taken away blocks and tackle both, only a few moments 
after they were resorted to." 



REPORT. 



CASUALTIES IN THE UNION FLEET, IN THE ATTACK ON 
THE DEFENCES OF MOBILE HARBOR. 

Report of Rear-Admiral D. G. Farragut. 

Flag-Ship Haktford, Mobile Bay, ) 
August 8, 18G4. J 

Sir : In my despatch, number three hundred and 
thirty-five, written on the evening of the engagement of 
the 5th instant, the casualties then reported were forty- 
one killed, and eighty-eight wounded. 

More detailed reports, since received, make the casual- 
ties fiftj-two killed, and one hundred and seventy 
wounded, namely: 



Hartford, 
Brooklyn, 



[illed. 


Wounded, 


25 


28 


11 


43 



78 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 



Lackawanna, 


Killed. 

4 


Wounded. 

35 


Oneida, 


8 


30 


Monongahela, 
Metacomet, . 



1 


6 
2 


Ossipee, 
Richmond, 
Galena, . 


1 





T 

2 slightly 

1 


Octorora, 


1 


10 


Kennebec, 


1 


6 


I forward herew 


ith the reports of the s 


urgeons of these 



vessels, giving the names of the killed and wounded, and 
the character of the wounds. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

D. G. FARRAGUT, 
Rear-Admiral^ commanding W. G. B. Squadron. 

Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy^ 
Washington. 



KILLED AND WOUNDED OF CONFEDERATE FLEET, IN 
ACTION OF AUGUST 5, 1864, MOBILE BAY. 



" Tennessee," Flag-Ship. 

Killed. — John Silk, first-class fireman; "William Moors, 
seaman. — 2. 

Wou7ided. — Admiral F. Buchanan, fracture right leg; 
A. T. Post, pilot, slightly in head ; J. C. O'Connell, second 
assistant engineer, slightly in leg and shoulder; Wil- 



APPENDIX. 79 

Ham Rogers, second assistant engineer, slightly in head 
and shoulder ; James Kelly, B. M., slightly in knee ; 
And. Rasmison, Q. M., slightly in head ; William Daly, 
seaman, in head ; Robert Barry, marine, gunshot wound 
of ear and head; James McKunn, marine, contusion of 
shoulder. — 9. 



" Selma." p. U. Murphy, Lieutenant commanding. 

Killed. — J. H. Comstock, lieutenant, and executive 
officer ; J. R. Murray, acting master's mate ; William 
Hall, gunner's mate ; James Rooney, seaman ; James 
Montgomery, seaman ; Bernard Riley, ordinary seaman ; 
J. R. Frisly, landsman ; Christopher Shepard, lands- 
man. — 8. 

Wounded. — P. U. Murphy, lieutenant, commanding, 
slightly in wrist ; John Villa, seaman, badly, leg and 
arm ; Henry Fratee, landsman, badly in hand ; Daniel 
Linnehan, seaman, slightly in arm ; John Shick, seaman, 
slightly in face ; John Davis, fireman, slightly ; John 
Gilliland, seaman, slightly. — 7. 

Total — killed, 10 ; wounded, 16. 

D. B. CONRAD, 

Fleet Surgeon^ C. S. N. 



OFFICERS OF THE CONFEDERATE RAM "TENNESSEE." 

Admiral., F. Buchanan, Commander-in-Chief. 
Commander ., J. D. Johnston. 

First Lieutenant., Wm. L. Bradford, (executive officer.) 
Lieutenants., A. D. Wharton, E. J. McDermett. 



80 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

Masters^ H. W. Perrin, J. Demaley. 

Master's 3Iates, M. J. Beebe, R. M. Carter, and W. S. 
Forrest. 

Boatstvain^ John McCradie. 

Gunner, H. S. Smith. 

Fi7'st Lieutenant Mari7ies, D. G. Raney. 

Mrst Assistant Engineer, G. D. Lening. c?'-<^>i--'/'<x.-^i ^^ 

Second Assistant Engineers, J. C. O'Connell, and John 
Hays. 

Third Assistant Engineers, William Rogers, Oscar Ben- 
son, and William Patterson. 

Fleet-Surgeon, D. B. Conrad. 

Assistant-Surgeon, R. C. Bowles. 



y 



officers of the union ships which passed the 
forts, and were engaged with the confed- 
erate ram and gunboats. 

" Hartford." 

Rear-Admiral, David Glasgow Farragut, Commander- 
in- Chief. 

Fleet Captain, Percival Drayton. 

Lieutenant- Commander, Lewis A. Kimberly, (executive 
officer.) 

Lieutenants, J. Crittenden Watson, A. R. Yates, Her- 
bert B. Tyson, and La Rue P. Adams. 

Acting Volunteer Lieutenant, George Miindy. 

Acting Ensigns, G. D. B. Glidden, William H. Whiting, 
H. H. Brownell, H. H. Heginbothara, Robert D. Bogart, 
and William L. Dana. 



APPENDIX. 81 

Acting Master's Mates, Richard P. Herrick, George B. 
Avery, William H. Hathorne, William H. Childs, and 
Joseph J. Finelli. 

Captain Marines, Charles Hey wood. 

Rear-AdmiraV s Secretary, Alexander McKinley. 

Fleet Engineer, William H. Shock. 

Chief Engineer, Thomas Williamson. 

First Assistant Engirieer, Edward B. Latch. 

Second Assistant Engineers, John Wilson, Isaac De 
Graff, and H. L. Pelkington. 

Third Assistant Engineer, James E. Speights. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineers, William McEwan, T. 
Benton Brown, and John D. Thompson. 

Fleet Surgeon, J. C. Palmer. 

Surgeon, Philip Lansdale. 

Assistant Surgeons, William Commons, and F. Wool- 
verton. 

Fleet Paymaster, Edward T. Dunn. 

Paymaster, William F. Meredith. 



" Brooklyn." 

Captain, James Alden. 

Lieutenant- Commander, Edward P. Lull, (executive 
officer.) 
' Lieutenants, Thomas L. Swann, and Charles F. Blake. 

Ensigns, Charles H. Pendleton, and C. D. Sigsbee. " 

Acting Ensigns, John Atter, and D. R. Cassel. 

Acting Master's Mates, Frederick C. Duncan, A. L. Ste- 
vens, and William H. Cook. 

Chief Engineer, Mortimer Kellogg. 
6 



82 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

Second Assistant Engineers, John D. Toppin, David 
Hardie, Haviland Barstow, and George E. Tower. 

Third Assistant Migineers, F. C. Goodwin, Joel A. Bul- 
lard, and William H. De Hart. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineer^ Henry H. Arthur. 

Surgeon, George Maulsby. 

Assistant Surgeon, H. Smith. 

Paymaster, Gilbert E. Thornton. 



" RlCH]MOND." 

Captain, Thornton A. Jenkins. 

Lieutenant-Commander, Edward Terry, (executive of- 
ficer.) 

Acting Volunteer Lieutenant, Charles J. Gibbs. 

Acting Master, Prince S. Borden. 

Ensign, Philip H. Cooper. 

Acting Ensigns, Lewis Clark, Colby M. Chester, and 
Arthur H. Wright. 

Acting Master'' b Mates, James West, Theodore J. Wer- 
ner, William C. Seymour, and Walter A. De Witt. 

Second Lieutenant Marines, C. L. Sherman. 

Chief Engineer, Jackson McElmell. 

First Assistant Engineer, Emory J. Brooks. 

Second Assistant Engineers, Albert J. Kenyon, Absalom 
Kirby, John D. Ford, and Robert Weir. 

Third Assistant Engineers, William H. Crawford, 
Charles W. C. Sartar, James W. Patterson, and Thomas 
McElmell. 

Surgeon, Lewis J. Williams. 

Assistant Surgeon, J. McD. Rice. 

Paymaster, Edwin Stewart. 



APPENDIX. 83 

" Lackawanna." 

Captain^ J. B. Marchand. 

Lieutenants, Thomas S. Spencer, (executive officer,) 
S. A. McCarty. 

Acting Masters, Felix McCurley, and John H. Allen. 

Ensigns, G. H. Wadleigh, and Frank Wildes. 

Acting Ensign, Clarence Rathbone. 

Acting Master's Mates, William J. Lewis, C. H. Foster, 
and John C. Palmer. 

First Assistant Engineer, James W. Whittaker. 

Second Assistant Engineers, E. J. Whittaker, and 
George W. Roche. 

Third Assistant Engineer, Isaac B. Fort. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineers, David F. Hennessy, 
and George W. Sullivan. 

Surgeon, T. W. Leach. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, W. T. Hutchinson. 

Paymaster, James Fulton. 



" MONONGAHELA." 

Commander, James H. Strong. 

Lieutenants, Roderick Prentiss, (executive officer.) O. 
A. Batcheller. 

Acting Ensigns, D. W. Mullan, James H. Rodgers, 
George Gerard, and P. E. Harrington. 

Chief Engineer, George E. Kutz. 

Second Assistant Engineers, Joseph Trilly, J. J. Bissett, 
Edward Cheeney, and Philip J. Sanger. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineer, Amos C. Wilcox. 

Surgeon, David Kindleberger. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, William B. Lewis. 

Assistant Paymaster, Forbes Parker. 



84 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

" OSSIPEE." 

Commander^ William E. Le Roy. 

Lieutenants^ J. A. Howell, (executive officer,) Richard 
S. Chew. 

Acting Masters^ C. C. Bunker, and C. W. Adams. 

Acting Ensigns^ Charles E. Clark, Henry S. Lambert, 
and William A. Van Vleck. 

Acting Master's Mates, George Pilling, and William 
Merrigood. 

Acting Chief Engineer, James M. Adams. 

Second Assistant Engineer, William H. Vanderbilt. 

Acting Second Assistaiit Engineers, Martin H. Gerry, 
James R. Webb, George W. Kidder, and Alfred Colin. 

Third Assistant Engineer, John Matthews. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineer, William Collier. 

Surgeon, B. F. Gibbs. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, John K. Bacon. 

Paymaster, Edward Foster. 



" Oneida." 

Commander, J. R. Madison Mullany. 
Lieutenant, Charles L. Huntington, (executive officer.) 
Lieutenants, Charles S. Cotton, and Edward N. Kellogg. 
Ensign, Charles V. Gridley. 
Acting Ensigns, John L. Hall, and John Sears. 
Acting Master's Mates, Edward Bird, Daniel Clark, and 
John Devereaux. 

Chief Engineer, William H. Hunt. 



APPENDIX. 85 

First Assistant Engineer^ Reuben H. Fitch. 
Acting Third Assistant Engineers^ W. E. Deaver, and 
Nicholas Dillon. 

Surgeon^ John Y. Taylor. 

Acting Paymaster.) George R. Martin. 



" Metacoimet." 

Lieutenant-Commander., James E. Jouett. 

Actiyig Volunteer Lieutenant, Henry J. Sleeper, (exec- 
utive officer.) 

Acting Masters, N. M. Dyer, and John O. Morse. 

Acting Ensigns, George E. Wing, John White, and 
Henry C. Nields. 

Acting Master^s Mates, J. K. Goodwin, and Rufus N. 
Miller. 

First Assistant Engineer, James Atkins. 

Second Assistant Engineer, George P. Hunt. 

Third Assistant Engineers, George B. Rodgers, James 
H. Nash, and D. W. King. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, E. D. Payne. 

Acting Assistant Paymaster, H. M. Hamman. 



" OCTOROEA." 

Lieutenant-Commander, Charles H. Greene. 
Acting Volunteer Lieutenant, William D. Urann, (exec- 
utive officer.) 

Acting Masters, H. S. Young, and Henry R. Billings. 
Acting Ensign, George H. Dodge. 



86 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

Acting Master's Mates, George P. Gifford, and George 
W. Adams. 

Acting First Assistant Engineers, William W. Shipman, 
and M. N. McEntee. 

Second Assistant Engineer, Rozeau B. Plotts. 
' Acting Second Assistant Engineer, Jarol Huber. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineers, Joseph Kniglit, and 
Gustav W. Best. 

Assistant Surgeon, Edward R. Dodge. 

Acting Assistant Paymaster, Joseph H. Pynchon. 



"Port Royal." 

lAeutenantrCommander, Bancroft Gherardi. 

Lieutenant- Commander, Thomas C. Bowen, (executive 
officer.) 

Acting Masters, Edward Herrick, and Thomas M. 
Gardner. 

Acting Ensigns, William Hull, and Fortesque S. Hop- 
kins. 

Acting Master^s Mates, Eugene V. Tyson, Henry D. 
Baldwin, William A. Prescott, and Samuel S. Bumpus. 

Acting First Assistant Engineer, Fletcher A. Wilson. 

Second Assistant Engineers, Francis B. Allen, and 
Henry Snyder. 

Acting Second Assistant Engineer, John B. McGavern. 

Tliird Assistant Engineer, W. C. F. Reichenbuck. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, Edward R. Hutchins. 

Acting Assistant Paymaster, Frank K. Moore. 



APPENDIX. 87 

" Seminole." 

Commander^ Edward Donaldson. 

Acting Volunteer Lieutenant^ John A. Johnston, (execu- 
tive officer.) 

Acting Master^ William A. Marine. 

Acting Ensigns^ Francis Kempton, Walter S. Church, 
and David K. Perkins. 

Acting Master's Mates^ C. A. Thorne, and Henry Webb. 

Acting First Assistant Engineers^ Claude Babcock, and 
Alvin R. Calden. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineers.^ William Drinkwater, 
Patrick I. Hughes, and William H. Whiting. 

Surgeon^ John I. Gibson. 

Paymaster^ Levi J. Stockwell. 



" Kennebec." 

Lieutenant- Commander^ William P. McCann. 

Acting Volunteer Lieutenant^ Edward Baker, (execu- 
tive officer.) 

Acting Ensigns^ John J. Butler, Hosea E. Tinkham, and 
Joseph D. Ellis. 

Second Assistant Engineers, Lewis W. Robinson, and 
John S. Pearce. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineer, James Eccles. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, George W. Hatch. 

Acting Assistant Pat/master, Edward T. Baker. 



88 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY, 

" Itasca." 

Lieutenant- Commander^ George Brown. 

Acting Master^ Richard Eustace, (executive officer.) 

Acting Ensigns^ Charles H. Hurd, James Igo, and Ed- 
ward S. Lowe. 

Acting Master's Mates, L. E. Heath, and Marcus Chap- 
man. 

Second Assistant Engineers, John Both wick, and George 
C. Irelan. 

Acting TJiird Assistant Engineers, Charles A. Laws, and 
Alfred Hojt. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, Henry Brockwood. 

Acting Assistant Paymaster, Alfred G. Lathrop. 



" Galena." 

Lieutenant-Commander, Clark H. Wells. 

Acting Volunteer Lieutenant, Charles H. Wilson, (exec- 
utive officer.) 

Acting Master, D. W. C. Kells. 

Acting Ensigns, Henry Pease, Jr., and Sanford S. Miner. 

Acting Master's" Mates, Francis Tuttle, and James H. 
Delano. 

First Assistant Engineer, William G. Buehler. 

Second Assistant Engineers, Charles H. Greenleaf, and 
John A. Scot. 

Acting TJiird Assistant Engineers, Patrick Burns, and 
William Welcker. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, George P. Wright. 

Acting Assistant Paymaster, Theodore Kitchen. 



APPENDIX. 89 

" Tecumseh." 

Commander^ T. Augustus Craven. 

Lieutenant^ John W. Kelly, (executive officer.) 

Acting Masters^ Charles F. Langley, and Gardner Cot- 
trell. 

Acting Ensigns^ John P. Lettic, and William Titcomb. 

Chief Engineer^ C. Faron. 

Second Assistant Engineers, F. S. Barlow, and Henry 
S. Leonard. 

Acting Second Assistant Engineer, T. Ustick. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineers, George Relter, and 
James L. Parsons. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, William A. Danker. 

Acting Assistant Paymaster, George Worke. 



" Manhattan." 

Commander, J. W. A. Nicholson. 

Lieutenant, E. M. Schoonmaker, (executive officer.) 

Acting Master, Robert B. Ely. 

Acting Ensigns, John B. Trott, George B. Mott, and 
Peter France. 

Acting Chief Engineer, C. L. Carty. 

Acting First Assistant Engineer, William H. Miller. 

Acting Second Assistant Engineers, James B. Farrand, 
and Thomas Finnic. 

Acting TJiird Assistant Engineers, Edward Misset, 
Charles F. Stroud, and Harrie Webster. 

Assistant Surgeon, John H. Austin. 

Acting Assistant Paymaster, H. G. Thayer. 



90 TEE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

" Winnebago." 

Commander^ Thomas H. Stevens. 

Acting Volunteer Lieutenant^ William F. Shankland, 
(executive officer.) 

Acting Master^ Austrony S. Megathlin. 

Acting Ensigns, James Whitworth, Michael Murphy, 
and John Morrisey. 

Acting blaster's Mates, Henry C. Atter, John L. Hall, 
William Edgar, and Charles S. Lyons. 

Acting Chief Engineer, Simon Shultice. 

First Assistant Engineer, John Purdy. 

Acting First Assistant Engineers, James Munroe, and 
John Wilson. 

Acting Second Assistant Engineers, E. L. Morse, and 
Philip Allman. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineers, Robert D. Wright, 
James W. Quinn, James Morris, and Thomas J. Myers. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, Joseph G. Bell. 

Acting Assistant Paymaster, Henry Gerrard. 



" Chickasaw." 

Lieutenant-Commander, George H. Perkins. 

Acting Volunteer Lieutenant, William Hamilton, (exec- 
utive officer.) 

Acting Masters, Ezekiel D. Percy, and E. B. Pike. 

Acting Ensigns, George L. Jorden, and J. Louis Harris. 

Acting Master's Mates, Allen A. Mann, M. F. Kershaw, 
M. G. Jones, and F. A. Case. 

Acting Chief Engineer, William Rodgers. 



APPENDIX. 91 

Acting First Assistant Engineer, Charles Chadwick. 

Acting Second Assistant Engineers, Elisha P. Bartlett, 
James J. Maratta, and Thomas H. Nelson. 

Acting Third Assistant Engineers, Albert H. Goff, Sarill 
Whitehead, Alexander H. Wiggins, Alfred Wilkinson, 
Henry Wentworth, and George Harris. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon, Garrett D. Buckner. 

Acting Assistant Paymaster, Edmund S. Wheeler. 



ROLL OF HONOR. 



J»io 



The following Roll of Honor is taken from " The Rec- 
ord of the Medals of Honor issued to the Blue Jackets 
and Marines of the Navy, under authority of the Con- 
gress of the United States, for Deeds of Gallantry and 
Heroism in times of War and of Peace." 

Wilson Bkown, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer " Hart- 
ford," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
" Was stationed at the shell-whip on the berth deck. A 
man was killed on the ladder above him, and thrown with 
such violence against Brown as to knock him into the 
hold, where he lay for a short time senseless ; but on 
recovering he immediately returned to his station, though, 
besides himself, only one of the original six belonging 
there had escaped." 

Thomas Fitzpatrick, 
Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Hart- 
ford," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
" His gun was disabled by the bursting of a shell, which 
destroyed much of the material and killed seven men, 

92 



APPENDIX. 93 

besides wounding several others, and among them himself. 
Notwithstanding this, he had the killed and wounded 
quietly removed ; replaced the breeching, side-tackle and 
truck, &c. (which had been cut to pieces) ; got a crew, 
and in a little while was firing the gun again as usual." 

Maetin Freeman, 

Pilot on board of the United States steamer " Hartford," 
in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
"Was the great reliance of the commanding officer of 
the ' Hartford,' in all difficulties in his line of duty. 
During the action he was in the main-top, piloting the 
ships into the bay. Especially commended to the de- 
partment." 

James R. Garrison, 

Coal-heaver on board of the United States steamer 
" Hartford," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. " Had one of his great toes shot off ; but without 
leaving his station at the shell-whip, bound up the wound, 
and remained at work until again severely wounded." 

John Lawson, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer " Hart- 
ford," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
" Was one of the six men stationed at the shell-whip on 
the berth deck. A shell killed or wounded the whole 
number. Lawson was wounded in the leg, and thrown 
with great violence against the side of the ship ; but as 
soon as he recovered himself, although begged to go be- 
low, he refused, and went back to the shell-whip, where 
he remained during the action." 



94 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

John McFarland, 

Captain oi forecastle on board of the United States 
steamer " Hartford," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, 
August 5, 1864. " Was at the wheel, which has been his 
station in all of the previous fights of this ship. As on 
every other occasion, he displayed the utmost coolness 
and intelligence throughout the action. When the 
' Lackawanna ' ran into the ' Hartford,' and for a mo- 
ment there was every appearance of the men at the wheel 
being crushed, he never left his station, nor ceased for an 
instant to attend strictly to his duties. This evidence 
of coolness and self-possession, together with his good 
conduct in the other battles of the ' Hartford,' entitles 
him to the medal." 

Charles Melville, 

Ordinary Seaman on board of the United States steamer 
" Hartford," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. " This man (a loader of the same gun) was 
severely wounded by a piece of the shell. He was taken 
below, but would not remain there ; and although scarcely 
able to stand, performed his duty until the end of the 
action." 

Thomas O'Connell, 

Coal-heaver on board of the United States steamer 
" Hartford," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. " Although on the sick-list, and quite unwell, he 
went to his station at the shell-whip, where he remained 
until his right hand was shot away." 



APPENDIX. 95 

William Pelham, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer 
" Hartford," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. " When the crew of the gun to which he belonged 
was entirely broken up, owing to the number of its killed 
and wounded, he assisted in removing the latter below, 
and then immediately returned, and, without any direc- 
tion to do so, took his place at the adjoining gun, where a 
vacancy existed, and continued to perform his duties 
there most faithfully for the remainder of the action." 

William A. Stanley, 

Shell-man at No. 8 gun on board of the United States 
steamer " Hartford," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, 
August 5, 1864. " Was severely wounded, but refused to 
go below ; and continued to perform his duties, until at 
length he became so weak from loss of blood as to be 
unable to stand." 



John Brown, 

Captain of forecastle on board of the United States 
steamer " Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, 
August 5, 1864. Very conspicuous for bravery, skill, 
coolness, and activity at his gun. 

William Blageen. 

Ship's CooTc on board of the United States steamer 
"Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 



96 THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAT. 

1864. Conspicuous for bravery, performing his duty in 
the powder division, at a point where the ship was riddled 
very much, and in the immediate vicinity of the shell- 
whips, which were twice cleared of men by bursting 
shells. 

William H. Brown, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer " Brook- 
lyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Conspicuous for bravery, performing his duty in the pow- 
der division at a point where the ship was riddled very 
much, and in the immediate vicinity of the shell-whips, 
which were twice cleared of men by bursting shells. 
"Was also wounded. 

John Cooper, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Brook- 
lyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Very conspicuous for bravery, skill, coolness, and activity 
at his gun. 

J. Henry Denig, 

Sergeant of Marines on board of the United States 
steamer " Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, 
August 5, 1864. Conspicuous good conduct at his gun. 

Richard Dennis, 

Boatswain's Mate on board of the United States steamer 
" Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. Displayed much courage, braver}^, and coolness in 
operating the torpedo-catcher and assisting in working 
the bow-chaser. 



APPENDIX. 97 

Samuel W. Davis, 

Ordinary Seaman on board of the United States steamer 
" Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. Displayed much courage, bravery, and coolness in 
acting as a lookout for torpedoes and other obstructions. 

Michael Hudson, 

Sergeant of Marines on board of the United States 
steamer " Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, 
August 5, 1864. Conspicuous good conduct at his gun. 

William Halstead, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Brook- 
lyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Coolness, bravery, and skill in the working of his gun. 
His conduct was particularly meritorious. 

Joseph Ielam, 

Seaman on board of the United States steamer " Brook- 
lyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Stationed at the wheel ; behaved with great coolness and 
bravery, sending the other two men who were stationed 
with him to replace men disabled at the guns. 

Nicholas Irwin, 

Seaman on board of the United States steamer " Brook- 
lyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Very conspicuous for bravery, skill, coolness, and activity 
at his gun. 

7 



1 



98 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

John Irving, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Brook- 
lyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Very conspicuous for bravery, skill, coolness, and activity 
at his gun. 

Burnett Kenna, 

Quartermaster on board of the United States steamer 
" Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. Coolness, bravery, and skill in the working of his 
gun. His conduct was particularly meritorious. 

Alexander Mack, 

Captain of Top on board of the United States steamer 
" Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. Activity, zeal, and skill displayed in handling his 
gun, as well as great courage. Pie was severely wounded. 

William Madden, 

Coal-heaver on board of the United States steamer 
" Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. Conspicuous for bravery, performing his duty in 
the powder division, at a point where the ship was riddled 
very much, and in the immediate vicinity of the shell- 
whips, which were twice cleared of men by bursting 
shells. 

James Machon, 

Boy^ United States steamer " Brooklyn," in the engage- 
ment in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Conspicuous for 
bravery, performing his duty in the powder division, at a 
point where the ship was riddled very much, and in the 



APPENDIX. 99 

immediate vicinity of the shell-whips, which were twice 
cleared of men by bursting shells. 

James Mifflin, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer " Brook- 
lyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Conspicuous for bravery, performing his duty in the pow- 
der division, at a point where the ship was riddled very 
much, and in the immediate vicinity of the shell-whips, 
which were twice cleared of men by bursting shells. 

William Nichols, 

Quartermaster on board of the United States steamer 
" Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. Perfect coolness and dexterity in handling his 
gun ; always sure of his aim before he would consent 
to fire. 

Miles M. Oviatt, 

Corporal of Marines on board of the United States 
steamer " Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, 
August 6, 1864. Conspicuous for good conduct at his 
gun. 

Edward Price, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Brook- 
lyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Great coolness and bravery under fire. His gun be- 
coming disabled by the sponge breaking, leaving the head 
in the gun, he proceeded to clear it by pouring powder 
into the vent and blowing the sponge-head out. 



100 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

William M. Smith, 

Corporal of Marines on board of the United States 
steamer " Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, 
August 5, 1864. Conspicuous for good conduct at his 
gun. 

James E. Sterling, 

Coal-heaver on board of the United States steamer 
" Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. Bravery in remaining at his post when wounded, 
and passing shell until struck down a second time, and 
completely disabled. 

Samuel Todd, 

Quartermaster on board of the United States steamer 
" Brooklyn," in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 
1864. Conspicuous coolness at the commencement and 
during the action. 



Thomas Atkinson, 

Yeoman on board of the United States steamer "Rich- 
mond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended for 
coolness and energy in supplying the rifle ammunition, 
which was under his sole charge in the action in Mobile 
Bay on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. 
He was a petty officer on board of the United States 
frigate " Congress " in 1842-46 ; was present and assisted 
in capturing the whole of the Buenos Ayrean fleet by 
that vessel, off Monte Video ; joined the " Richmond " in 
September, 1860 ; was in the actions with Fort McRea ; 



APPENDIX. 101 

the head of the passes of the Mississippi ; forts Jackson 
and St. Philip ; the Chalmettes ; the rebel iron-clads and 
gunboats below New Orleans ; Vicksburg ; Port Hudson ; 
and at the surrender of New Orleans. 

Robert Brown, 

Captain of Top on board of the United States steamer 
" Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct in the action in Mobile 
Bay, on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. 
He was on board the " Westfield " in the actions with 
forts Jackson and St. Philip ; the Chalmettes ; and pres- 
ent at the surrender of New Orleans ; also with the bat- 
teries at Vicksburg. Joined the "Richmond" in Sep- 
tember, 1863. 

Cornelius Cronin, 

Chief Quartermaster on board of the United States 
steamer "Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Commended for coolness and close attention to duty in 
looking out for signals, and steering the ship in the action 
in Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 
1864. He has been in the naval service eight years. 
Joined the " Brooklyn " in December, 1861 ; was in the 
actions with forts Jackson and St. Philip, and with the 
rebel iron-clads and gunboats below New Orleans ; was in 
the action with the Chalmette batteries; present at the 
surrender of New Orleans, and in the attack on the bat- 
teries below Vicksburg, in 1862. Joined the " Rich- 
mond" in September, 1863. 



102 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

Thomas Cripps, 

Quartermaster on board of the United States steamer 
" Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct as captain of a gun in the 
action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of 
August 5, 1864. He was in the "Brooklyn," in the 
actions with forts Jackson and St. Philip ; the Chalmette 
batteries ; batteries below Vicksburg ; and present at the 
surrender of New Orleans. Joined the "Richmond "in 
September, 1863. 

James B. Chandlee, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Rich- 
mond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended for cool- 
ness and good conduct in the action in Mobile Bay, on the 
morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. He deserves 
especial notice for having come off the sick-list, and going 
to and remaining at his quarters during the entire action. 
Joined the "Brooklyn" in November, 1861; was in the 
actions with forts Jackson and St. Philip ; the Chal- 
mettes ; batteries below Vicksburg ; and present at the 
surrender of New Orleans. Joined the " Richmond " in 
September, 1863. 

WiLLiAJVi W. Call, 

Blaster at Arms on board of the United States steamer 
" Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness, energy, and zeal in the action of Mobile 
Bay, on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. 
Volunteered to direct, under the orders of the commander 
of the division, the passing of shells from the shell-rooms. 



APPENDIX. 103 

in addition to his duties connected with the care of 
lights, which he performed most satisfactorily. Has been 
Master at Arms on board the "Richmond" since Sep- 
tember, 1860 ; was in the actions with Fort McRea ; at 
the head of the passes of the Mississippi ; forts Jackson 
and St. Philip ; the Chalmettes ; the rebel iron-clads and 
gunboats below New Orleans ; Vicksburg ; Port Hudson ; 
and present at the surrender of New Orleans. 

William Densmoee, 

Chief Boatswain^ s Mate on board of the United States 
steamer "Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Commended for coolness and good conduct as captain of 
a gun in the action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and 
forenoon of August 5, 1864. He has been in the naval 
service twelve years ; was on board the ship " St. Louis," 
blockading off Pensacola and the head of the passes of 
the Mississippi, until the expiration of his service in 1861; 
reshipped the same year, and joined the " Brooklyn " ; 
was in the actions with forts Jackson and St. Philip, and 
with the rebel iron-clads and gunboats below New Or- 
leans ; was in the action with the Chalmette batteries ; 
present at the surrender of New Orleans, and on board 
the " Brooklyn " in the attack upon the batteries below 
Vicksburg, in 1862. Joined the " Richmond " in Sep- 
tember, 1863. 

Adam Duncan, 

Boatswain^ s Mate on board of the United States steamer 
"Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct as captain of a gun in the 
action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of 



104 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

August 5, 1864. He has been six years in the naval ser- 
vice ; was on board the " Brooklyn " in the actions with 
forts Jackson and St. Philip, and with the rebel iron- 
clads and gunboats below New Orleans ; was in the 
action with the Chalmette batteries ; present at the sur- 
render of New Orleans, and on board the " Brooklyn " in 
the attack upon the batteries below Vicksburg, in 1862. 
Joined the " Richmond " in September, 1863. 

Charles Deakin, 

Boatswain s Mate on board of the United States steamer 
" Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct as captain of a gun in the 
action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of 
August 5, 1864. He deserves special notice for his good 
example and zeal in going to and remaining at his quar- 
ters during the whole action, although quite sick. He 
has been in the naval service six years ; was on board the 
" Brooklyn " in the actions with forts Jackson and St. 
Philip, and with the rebel iron-clads and gunboats below 
New Orleans ; was in the action with the Chalmette bat- 
teries ; present at the surrender of New Orleans, and on 
board the " Brooklyn " in the attack upon the batteries 
below Vicksburg, in 1862. Joined the "• Richmond " in 
September, 1863. 

William Doolin, 

Coal-heaver on board of the United States steamer 
" Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct, and for refusing to leave 
his station as shot and shell passer, after having been 
knocked down and badly wounded in the head by splin- 



APPENDIX. 105 

ters ; and upon going to quarters the second time, lie was 
found at his station, nobly doing his duty in the action in 
Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 
1864. He was in Fort Pickens when it was bombarded 
by the rebels ; was on board the " Brooklyn " in the 
actions with forts Jackson and St. Philip ; the Chal- 
mettes ; the rebel iron-clads and gunboats below New 
Orleans ; the batteries below Vicksburg ; and present at 
the surrender of New Orleans. 

Thoivias Hayes, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Rich- 
mond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended for 
coolness and good conduct as captain of No. 1 gun in the 
action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of 
August 5, 1864. He was on board the " Brooklyn " in 
the actions with forts Jackson and St, Philip, and the 
iron-clads and gunboats below New Orleans ; with the 
Chalmette batteries; batteries below Vicksburg; and was 
present at the surrender of New Orleans. 

Hugh Hamilton, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Rich- 
mond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended for 
coolness and good conduct in the action in Mobile Bay, 
on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. Was 
in the actions with forts Jackson and St. Philip ; the 
Chalmettes ; the rebel iron-clads and gunboats below 
New Orleans ; the batteries below Vicksburg ; present at 
the surrender of New Orleans. Joined the " Richmond " 
in October, 1863. 



1 



106 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

Jaisies McIntosh, 

Captain of Top on board of the United States steamer 
•' Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct in the action in Mobile 
Bay, on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. 
He was present and assisted in the capture of the bat- 
teries at Hatteras Inlet, and on board the " Cumberland" 
when she was sunk by the " Merrimac," at Newport 
News. Joined the " Richmond " in September, 1863. 

John H. James, 

Captain of Top on board of the United States steamer 
"Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct as captain of a gun in the 
action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of 
August 5, 1864. He came off the sick-list at the com- 
mencement of the action, went to his quarters, and fought 
his gun well during the entire action. He was in the 
actions with forts Jackson and St. PhilijD ; the rebel iron- 
clads and gunboats below New Orleans ; the Chalmettes ; 
the batteries below Vicksburg ; and present at the sur- 
render of New Orleans. Joined the " Richmond " Sep- 
tember, 1863. 

William Jones, 

Captain of Top on board of the United States steamer 
" Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct as captain of a gun in the 
action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of 
the 5th of August, 1864. Joined the " Dacotah " in 
September, 1861, and was on board the " Cumberland " 



APPENDIX, 107 

when sunk by the " Merrimac " at Newport News. Joined 
the " Richmond " in September, 1863. 

James H. Morgan, 

Captain of Top on board of the United States steamer 
" Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct as captain of a gun in the 
action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of 
August 5, 1864. He joined the " Colorado " in May, 
1861 ; volunteered for the United States steamer " Mis- 
sissippi " ; was in the action with forts Jackson and St. 
Philip ; the Chalmettes ; Vicksburg ; Port Hudson ; and 
present at the surrender of New Orleans ; was on board 
the " New Ironsides," at Charleston. Joined the " Rich- 
mond" in October, 1863. 

Andrew Miller, 

Sergeant of Marines on board of the United States 

steamer " Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 

Commended for coolness and good conduct as captain of 

a gun in the action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and 

forenoon of August 5, 1864. Was in the actions with 

forts Jackson and St. Philip ; the Chalmettes ; the rebel 

iron-clads and gunboats below New Orleans ; batteries 

below Vicksburg; and present at the surrender of New 

Orleans. 

James Martin, 

Sergeant of Marines on board of the United States 
steamer "Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Commended for coolness and good conduct as captain of 
a gun in the action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and 
forenoon of August 5, 1864. Was in the actions with 



108 THE BATTLE OF 3I0BILE BAT. 

forts Jackson and St. Philip ; the Chalmettes ; the rebel 
iron-clads and gunboats below New Orleans ; Vicksburg ; 
Port Hudson ; and present at the surrender of New Or- 
leans, on board of the " Richmond." 

George Parks, 

Captain of Forecastle on board of the United States 
steamer '' Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Com- 
mended for coolness and good conduct in the action in 
Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 
1864. He joined the "Richmond" in September, 1860; 
reshipped, October, 1863 ; was in the actions with Fort 
McRea ; with the rebel vessels at the head of the passes 
of the Mississippi; in passing forts Jackson and St. 
Philip ; the Chalmettes ; twice before Vicksburg bat- 
teries ; at Port Hudson ; was captain of a gun in the 
naval nine-inch gun battery at the siege of Port Hudson, 
and present at the surrender of New Orleans. 

Hendrick Sharp, 

Seaman on board of the United States steamer " Rich- 
mond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended for 
coolness and courage as captain of one hundred-pounder 
rifle gun on topgallant forecastle in the action in Mobile 
Bay, on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. 
He fought his gun when under the hottest fire from the 
enem3''s batteries, at short range, with a coolness and 
effectiveness that won not only the admiration of the 
commanding officer of the division, but of all others who 
had an opportunity to observe him. He has been in the 
naval service thirty-two years; joined the "Richmond" 
at Norfolk when first put in commission, September 27, 



APPENDIX. 109 

1860. At the expiration of his term of service, in 1863, 
reshipped for the period of three years. He was in action 
on board of the " Richmond " with the rebels at the head 
of the passes of the Mississippi ; at the bombardment of 
Fort McRea, at Pensacola, which lasted an entire day, 
when he received a severe splinter wound in the left 
hand which permanently disabled two of his fingers ; and 
notwithstanding the severity of the wound, as soon as it 
was dressed by the surgeon he returned to his gun with- 
out the permission of the surgeon, and persisted in re- 
maining at his quarters, using his right hand until the 
action ceased. He was in the actions with forts Jackson 
and St. Philip, and with the rebel iron-clads and gunboats 
below New Orleans ; in action with the Chalmette bat- 
teries ; present at the surrender of New Orleans ; fought 
the batteries of Vicksburg twice ; was in the memorable 
attack on Port Hudson, on the 14th of March, 1863 ; was 
captain of a nine-inch gun in the naval nine-inch gun 
battery, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Edward 
Terry, placed in the rear of Port Hudson during the 
siege. He was also captain of a gun in the naval battery 
established at Baton Rouge, and commanded by Lieu- 
tenant-Commander Edward Terry, after the repulse of 
the army and death of General Williams at that place. 

Waltee, B. Smith, 

Ordinary Seaman on board of the United States steamer 
" Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct at the one hundred- 
pounder rifle gun on the topgallant forecastle, and for 
musket-firing into the gunports of the rebel iron-clad 
" Tennessee," in the action in Mobile Bay, on the morn- 



110 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

ing and forenoon of August 5, 1864. He was on board 
the United States steamer "Hatteras" when that ves- 
sel was sunk by the Alabama, commanded by Captain 
Semmes, off Galveston; joined the "Richmond" after 
having been exchanged, September, 1863 ; and his good 
conduct on board of that ship has been of the most ex- 
emplary kind. 

Lebbeus Simpkins, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Rich- 
mond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended for 
coolness and courage in the action in Mobile Bay, on the 
morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. He joined 
the "Brooklyn" in January, 1861; was in the actions 
with forts Jackson and St. Philip, and the rebel iron-clads 
and gunboats below New Orleans ; Chalmette batteries ; 
batteries below Vicksburg ; and present at the surrender 
of New Orleans. Joined the " Richmond," October, 
1863. 

Oloff Smith, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Rich- 
mond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended for 
coolness and good conduct in the action in Mobile Bay, 
on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. He was 
on board the " Richmond " in the actions with Fort 
McRea; at the head of the passes of the Mississippi; 
with forts Jackson and St. Philip; the rebel iron-clads 
and gunboats below New Orleans; the Chalmette bat- 
teries ; twice with the batteries of Vicksburg in attempting 
to pass ; and at the siege of Port Hudson ; and present at 
the surrender of New Orleans. He has been coxswain 



APPENDIX. Ill 

on board the " Richmond " for twenty consecutive 
months. 

John Smith, 

Second Captain of Top on board of the United States 
steamer " Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. 
Commended for coolness and good conduct as captain of 
a gun in the action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and 
forenoon of August 5, 1864. He was on board the " Va- 
runa " when she was sunk by the rebel vessels after hav- 
ing passed forts Jackson and St. Philip ; was transferred 
to the " Brooklyn " ; and was in the action with the bat- 
teries below Vicksburg. Joined the "Richmond" in 
September, 1863. 

Jaimes S]vnTH, 

Captain of Forecastle on board the United States steamer 
" Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended 
for coolness and good conduct as captain of a gun in the 
action in Mobile Bay, on the morning and forenoon of 
August 5, 1864. 

David Spkowle, 

Orderly Sergeant of the Marine Guard on board of the 
United States steamer " Richmond," Mobile Bay, August 
5, 1864. Commended for co(>lness, and for setting a good 
example to the marine guard working a division of great 
guns in the action of Mobile Bay, on the morning and 
forenoon of August 5, 1864. Joined the "Richmond," 
September 27, 1860 ; was in the actions with Fort McRea; 
the head of the passes of the Mississippi ; forts Jackson 
and St. Philip; the Chalmettes; the rebel ivon-clads and 



112 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

gunboats below New Orleans ; Vicksburg ; Port Hudson ; 
and present at the surrender of New Orleans. He has 
been in the service twenty-eight years. 

Alexander H. Truett, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Rich- 
mond," Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Commended for 
coolness and good conduct in the action in Mobile Bay, 
on the morning and forenoon of August 5, 1864. He 
was in the actions with forts Jackson and St. Philip ; the 
Chalmette batteries ; the rebel iron-clads and gunboats 
below New Orleans; the batteries below Vicksburg; and 
was present at the surrender of New Orleans. He was 
present at and assisted in the capture of the piratical 
steamers " Maramon " and " Marquis de la Habana," in 
March, 1860, near Vera Cruz. 



John M. Burns, 

Seaman on board of the United States steamer " Lacka- 
wanna." Severely wounded and sent below under the 
surgeon's charge ; would not remain unemployed, but 
assisted the powder division until the action was over. 

Michael Cassidy, 

Layidsman on board of the United States steamer " Lacka- 
wanna." First sponger of a gun. Displayed great cool- 
ness and exemplary behavior, eliciting the applause of his 
officers and the gun's crew. 



APPENDIX. 113 

Louis G. Chaput, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer " Lack- 
awanna." Remained at his gun after he was severely 
wounded until relieved by another person ; was then 
taken below, and after reporting to the surgeon returned 
to his station at the gun, and resumed his duties until the 
action was over, and was then carried below. 

Adajvi McCullock, 

Seaman on board of the United States steamer " Lacka- 
wanna." Being wounded, would not leave his quarters, 
although ordered to do so, but remained until the action 
was over. 

Patrick Dougherty, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer " Lack- 
awanna." Took the place of the powder-boy at his gun 
without orders, when the powder-boy was disabled ; kept 
up a supply, and showed much zeal in his new capacity. 

John Edwards, 

Captain of Top on board of the United States steamer 
"Lackawanna." Second captain of a gun. Although 
wounded, would not, when ordered, go below to the sur- 
geon, but took the place of the first captain during the 
remainder of the action. 

Samuel W. Kinnaird, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer " Lacka- 
wanna." Set an example to the crew by his presence of 
mind and cheerfulness, that had a beneficial effect. 
8 



114 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

William Phinney, 

Boatswain's Mate on board of the United States steamer 
" Lackawanna." As captain of a gun, showed much 
presence of mind and coolness in managing it, and gave 
great encouragement to the crew. 

John Smith, 

Captain of Forecastle on board of the United States 
steamer "Lackawanna." Was first captain of a gun, 
and finding that he could not sufficiently depress his gun, 
when alongside of the rebel iron-clad "Tennessee," 
threw a hand holy-stone into one of the ports at a rebel 
using abusive language against the crew of the ship. 

George Taylor, 

Armorer on board of the United States steamer " Lacka- 
wanna " ; although wounded, went into the shell-room, 
and with his hands extinguished the fire from a shell 
exploded over it by the enemy. 

James Ward, 

Quarter G-unner on board of the United States steamer 
" Lackawanna." Being wounded, and ordered below, 
would not go, but rendered much aid at one of the guns 
when the crew was disabled, and subsequently remained 
in the chains heaving the lead until nearly in collision 
with the rebel iron-clad " Tennessee." 



APPENDIX. 115 

Daniel Whitfield, 

Quartermaster on board of the United States steamer 
" Lackawanna." Remarkable coolness as captain of a 
gun in holding on to the lock-string and waiting for some 
time whilst alongside of the rebel iron-clad " Tennessee," 
and firing so that the shot might enter her port. 



William Gardner, 

Seaman on board of the United States steamer " Oneida." 
Behaved so coolly under fire as to draw the particular 
attention of the executive officer of the vessel. 

John E. Jones, 

Quartermaster on board of the United States steamer 
"Oneida." Stationed at the wheel ; was wounded. After 
the wheel-ropes were shot away, he went on the poop to 
assist at the signals, and remained there until ordered to 
reeve new wheel-ropes. 

Thomas Kendrick, 

Coxswain on board of the United States steamer " Oneida." 
A volunteer from the " Bienville." Attracted the partic- 
ular attention of the executive officer of the " Oneida " 
by his excellent conduct. 

William Newland, 

Ordinary Seaman on board of the United States steamer 
"Oneida." First loader of the after nine-inch gun. 
Mentioned as having behaved splendidly, and as being 



116 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

distinguished on board for good conduct and faithful dis- 
charge of all duties. 

David Naylor, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer 
" Oneida." Powder-boy at the thirty-pounder Parrott 
rifle. His passing-box having been knocked out of his 
hand, fell overboard into a boat alongside. He imme- 
diately jumped overboard, recovered it, and returned to 
his station. 

John Preston, 

Landsman on board of the United States steamer 
" Oneida." Although severely wounded, he remained at 
his gun until obliged to go to the surgeon, to whom he 
reported himself as slightly hurt. He assisted in taking 
care of the wounded below, and wanted to return to his 
station, but on examining him it was found that he was 
wounded quite severely in both eyes. 

James S. Roantree, 

Sergeant of Marines on board of the United States steamer 
" Oneida." Conducted himself with distinguished gal- 
lantry, and is mentioned as particularly deserving of 
notice. 

James Sheridan, 

Quartermaster on board of the United States' steamer 
" Oneida." Captain of the after nine-inch gun ; was 
wounded in several places, but remained at his gun until 
the firing ceased, and then supplied the place of the Sig- 
nal Quartermaster, who had been injured by a fall. 



APPENDIX. 117 

Charles B. Woram, 

Seaman on board of the United States steamer " Oneida." 
Acting as aid to the executive officer. Distinguished 
himself for his cool courage, and carried his orders intel- 
ligently and correctly. 



Andrew Jones, 

Chief Boatsivain' s Mate on board of the United States 
steamer " Chickasaw." Although his enlistment had ex- 
pired, he volunteered from the " Vincennes " for the bat- 
tles in Mobile Bay, and was honorably mentioned by the 
commanding officer of the " Chickasaw." 



118 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS SENT FROM HEAD-QUARTERS 
MILITARY DIVISION WEST MISSISSIPPI. 

Head-quakters Military Division of the West Mississippi, ) 
New Orleans, La., August 9, 1864. 5 

IMajor-General H. W. Halleck, 

Chief of Staffs Washington, D. 0. 

Sir : Fort Gaines, with forty-six commissioned offi- 
cers, and eight hundred and eighteen enlisted men, with 
its armament, twenty-six guns, intact, aod provisions for 
twelve months, has surrendered (unconditionally). It 
was occupied by our own forces at eight o'clock, yester- 
day morning. 

Fort Powell was abandoned, its garrison escaping to 
Cedar Point. Its armament, eighteen guns, is in con- 
dition for immediate service. 

General Granger, reinforced by two thousand men, 
will immediately invest Fort Morgan, leaving garrisons in 
forts Gaines and Powell. 

E. R. S. CANBY, 

• Major-Greneral, commanding. 



APPENDIX. 119 



Head-quarters Military Division of the "West Mississippi, 
New Orleans, La., August 24, 1864. 



Majoe-General H. W. Halleck, 

Chief of Staff, Washington, D. C. 

Sm : By the surrender of Fort Morgan we have about 
six hundred prisoners, sixty pieces of artillery, and a 
large quantity of material. In the twelve hours pre- 
ceding the surrender, about three thousand shells were 
thrown into the fort. The citadel and barracks are 
entirely destroyed, the works generally much injured. 
Many of the guns were spiked, the carriages burned, and 
much of the ammunition destroyed by the rebels. 

The losses in the army were one man killed and seven 
wounded. 

E. R. S. CANBY, 

Major- Cfeneral, commanding. 
B. B. K. 
ff.U. 



120 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 



EXTEACTS FROM CONFEDERATE OFFICIAL REPORTS. 

Mobile, August 7, 1864. 

Colonel : I have the honor to report the evacuation 
and destruction of Fort Powell, on the night of Au- 
gust 5th. 

When the enemy's fleet passed into the bay, the gar- 
rison consisted of two (2) companies of the Twenty-first 
Alabama Regiment, and part of Culpepper's Battery, — 
in all abou»t one hundred and forty men. Water for 
thirty days was protected from the enemy's fire in the 
bomb-proof, and other stores for two months. The front 
face of the work whs nearly completed and in a defensi- 
ble condition, mounting one eight-inch columbiad, one six 
and four-tenths-inch rifle, and two seven-inch Brooks 
guns. The face looking towards Gaines and Little Dau- 
phine Island was half finished. The parapet was nearly 
complete, but traverses and galleries had only been 
framed. The rear had only been commenced. Two guns 
were mounted, — one ten-inch columbiad, and one seven- 
inch Brooks rifled. They were without parapets, and 
exposed from the platform up. This part of the fort was 
strewed with a large quantity of lumber, which was being 
used in the construction of galleries, magazines, &c. 
During the morning, the fort was shelled from five gun- 
boats in the sound, at long range. The fort was hit five 
times, but no particular damage was done. 



APPENDIX. 121 

I replied with the four guns bearing on that side, with 
what effect is not known. About 2.30 P. m., one of the 
enemy's monitors came up within seven hundred yards 
of the fort, firing rapidly with shell and grape. I replied 
from the seven-inch Brooks gun (razeed) on the southern 
angle. It was protected by an unfinished traverse, 
which however would not permit it to be depressed suf- 
ficiently for ricochet firing. The gun was loaded with 
great difficulty, there being no platform for the gunners 
in the rear, owing to which, and the delay occasioned by 
a sponge-head pulling off in the gun, I succeeded in firing 
but three shots from it while the iron-clad was in range. 
One shot struck on the bow, with no apparent effect. 
The iron-clad's fire made it impossible to man the two 
guns in the rear, and I made no attempt to do so. 

The elevating machine of the ten-inch columbiad was 
broken by a fragment of shell. A shell entered one of 
the sally-ports, which are not traversed in the rear, passed 
entirely through the bomb-proof, and buried itself in the 
opposite wall ; fortunately it did not explode. The shells 
exploding in the face of the work displaced the sand so 
rapidly, that I was convinced, that unless the iron-clad 
was driven off, it would explode m}^ magazine and make 
the bomb-proof chambers untenable, in two days at the 
furthest. To drive it from its position I believed impos- 
sible with my imperfect work, and so telegraphed to 
Colonel Anderson, commanding Fort Gaines, that unless 
I could evacuate I would be compelled to surrender 
within forty-eight hours. His reply was, " Save your 
garrison when your fort is no longer tenable." 

At the time his despatch was received it was becoming 
dark. The fleet had not moved up to intercept my com- 



122 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

munication witli Cedar Point; I could not expect to have 
another opportunity for escape, and I decided promptly 
that it would be better to save my command and destroy 
the fort, than to allow both to fall into the hands of the 
enemy, as they certainly would have done in two days. 
The tide being low, I marched my command to Cedar 
Point without interruption or discovery. In one narrow 
channel I found the water overhead, and in crossing it I 
damaged my ammunition and lost a few muskets (a 
special report of which will be made). 

Lieutenant Savage was left in the fort, with orders to 
prepare a train and match, to explode the magazine as 
soon as he discovered that I had gained the mainland. 
Lieutenant Jeffers, Acting Ordnance Officer, was directed 
to spike the guns at the same time. The fort was blown 
up at 10.30 P. M. Every man was brought off safely to 
Cedar Point, thence to the city. 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. M. WILLIAMS, 
Lieutenant- Colonel, commanding. 

Col. G. G. Gaenee, Chief of Staff. 



Head-quarters District of the Gulf, 

Mobile, Alabama, August 9, 1864. 

Geneeal: While at Meridian on the 3d instant, I 
received despatches indicating a land and naval attack on 
the lower forts. On the 4th instant, a force was thrown 
on Dauphine Island estimated at two thousand (2000). 
On Friday, the 5th instant, the enemy's fleet attacked 
Fort Morgan, at 6.30 A.M. After several hours' bom- 



APPENDIX. 123 

bardment, the whole fleet, except one large monitor, which 
was sunk by our guns, ran by the fort and entered the 
bay. They numbered (14) fourteen wooden ships, and 
(3) three iron-clads. The Tennessee, and little gunboats 
Selma, Gaines, and Morgan, were soon overpowered. 
The conduct of the Admiral, in the Tennessee, and of 
the Selma, Captain Pat. Murphy, is spoken of as devot- 
edly gallant. 

On the same day a monitor ran close up to Fort Powell 
and cannonaded it for several hours; (5) five gunboats 
in Mississippi Sound bombarded it at long range. No 
serious injury was done to the fort, besides disabling the 
carriage of a ten-inch gun. No officer or man was 
wounded. That night, Lieutenant-Colonel Williams, the 
same commander who, in a spirited manner, sustained the 
attack of Farragut some months ago, evacuated the fort, 
blew it up, and brought the garrison to this city. Urgent 
orders were sent to Colonel C. D. Anderson, Twenty-first 
Alabama, the commander of Gaines, to hold his fort to 
the last extremity. 

He surrendered his fort with about six hundred (600) 
good troops in it, on yesterday morning. 

The commander and garrison of Fort Morgan evince a 
noble spirit of resolution. 

Grant's Pass is now open for transports, and Mobile 
may be attacked in a short time. Henceforth the place 
must always be held ready for attack. There are an 
unusual number of women and children here ; they will 
not go away until the shells begin to fall, when it may be 
too late. There is six months' supply of victuals here for 
a garrison. The ordnance supplies are still insufficient 
for siege. The citizens, employes, reserves, militia, (2) 



124 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

two Louisiana regiments of heavy artillery, (6) six com- 
panies of cavalry, and a battalion of men selected from 
companies of correction, in all about (4,000), four thou- 
sand, now man the works. 

A regiment of reserves, and about (300) three hundred 
artillerists are en route. Other reserves are under orders 
to come here — (say 1,000). Last night I received a 
despatch from my most intelligent New Orleans cor- 
respondent, stating Canby's force at 3,000. If this be 
so, no immediate attack upon the city is probable. 
Forrest telegraphs me that the force advancing down the 
Mississippi Central road is about 15,000 men. It has 
forced Chalmers back towards Oxford. Forrest has about 
(7,000) seven thousand veteran cavalry. I have ordered 
General Wirt Adams and Liddell to reinforce him, if 
possible. They may send him 1,000 to 1,500- men, and 
the State reserves and militia of Mississippi may give him 
1,500 more. With this I think he can retard, and per- 
haps defeat the enemy. I go to Meridian this evening. 
No tidings yet of General Taylor, or of troops crossing. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

DABNEY H. MAURY, 

Major-Creneral^ commanding. 



APPENDIX. 125 

Head-quarters Department of Alabama, Mississippi, j 

AND Eastern Louisiana, > 

Mobile, Ala., August 12, 1864. j 

My dear Sir: I received to-day your despatch in- 
quiring for the particulars concerning the surrender of 
Fort Gaines. . I have answered as to the main points. 
When the fleet first appeared to be increasing before Fort 
Morgan, I was in Meridian, the head-quarters of the 
department to which I had recently been temporarily 
assigned. On my return to Mobile, on the 3d instant, I 
found that, in consequence of the appearance of a land 
force off Dauphine Island, the garrisons of forts Gaines 
and Powell had been increased by sending some local 
troops (Pelham Cadets), marines, reserves, heavy artil- 
lery — in fact, almost every available soldier at that time 
in Mobile. It was then believed those would hold out 
against any attack likely to be made on them, and it was 
hoped the fleet would not enter the bay. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Williams, of Fort Powell, aban- 
doned and blew up his work without having a man 
injured, nor had any injury been inflicted on any part of 
his fort. He reports one of his gun-carriages disabled, 
and one gun temporarily out of use by careless loading. 
He had under his bomb-proof fully thirty (30) days' 
water, and two months' provisions. He had hand-gre- 
nades, revolvers, muskets, and howitzers to defend his 
fort against launches, and eight (8) heavy guns to use 
against the ships. The fort had just been connected, by 
telegraph, with Fort Gaines and with Mobile. On the 
morning of the 5th, there were seventy (70) negroes, 
with trenching tools, in the fort; the guns on the east 
face of the work were mounted and in fighting order, but 



126 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

were not yet covered by the parapet, and the men serving 
them would have been exposed, as are sailors on an ordi- 
nary man-of-war. 

It is altogether probable that a faithful service of their 
battery for half an hour would have driven off or sunk 
the only boat attacking its eastern face, and that it might 
have been held long enough to compel the fleet to put to 
sea, or at least to enable Mobile to prepare fully for land 
attack. 

Fort Gaines was garrisoned by six (6) companies 
Twenty-first Alabama regiment, two (2) companies First 
Alabama battalion, forty (40) Pelham Cadets, one hun- 
dred and twenty (120) reserves, and about forty (40) 
marines — in all about (600) six hundred good troops. 
The fort was well supplied for (6) six months. The 
three (3) ten-inch guns were dismounted* during the 
bombardment ; twenty (20) guns remained in good order. 
The fort was uninjured, and could have long withstood 
attack. The enclosed copy of General Page's despatch 
reveals all I know of the surrender. 

The important consequence of these misfortunes is, 
that Mobile is henceforth liable to attack without warn- 
ing, and must always be ready for siege. I have hereto- 
fore, as you know, sent from here troops and supplies to 
other points, which seemed more important or more im- 
minently pressed; henceforth I must collect and hold 
here everything necessary for a beleaguered city. 

The heavy armament calls for a great deal of ammuni- 
tion. The outer line — Morgan, Gaines, and Powell — 

♦ Temporarily dismounted during the bombardment by the carelessness 
of the cannoneers ; afterwards remounted, according to information just 
received. 



APPENDIX. 127 

was supplied with three hundred (300) rounds per gun. 
The guns near the city have not more than two hundred 
(200). The total number of men now under arms in the 
whole district is about (6,000) six thousand — about 
(1,000) one thousand of whom have been under fire, and 
a large portion are citizens of the place. 

The city has probably more women and children in it 
than at any time since the war began. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

DABNEY H. MAURY, 

Major-Creneral^ commanding. 

Hon. James A. Seddon, Secretary of War, C. S. iV., 
Richmond, Va. 



Head-quarters Department of Alabama, ^ 

Mississippi, and East Louisiana, > 

Mobile, Ala., September 1, 1864. J 

Genekal Samuel Cooper, 

Adjutant and Inspector- Greneral, 0. S. A., Richmond, Va. 

Geneeal : When I was assigned to the command of 
this department, July 26th, it had been stripped of most 
of its troops to strengthen the Army of Tennessee. In 
Mobile, there was not a soldier, except the artillery gar- 
risons of the forts and bay batteries. Forrest, with six 
thousand effective cavalry, guarded North Mississippi 
against a heavy column advancing from Memphis. Gen- 
eral Wirt Adams, with five or six hundred cavalry, 
watched Vicksburg ; Colonel Scott, with twelve hundred 
cavalry, held East Louisiana. A few disorganized frag- 



128 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAT. 

ments of brigades, numbering a thousand men, perhaps, 
with some companies of state reserves, constituted my 
force in North and Central Alabama. 

The enemy prepared to move on Mobile and North 
Mississippi simultaneously. 

On the 5th of August, a very formidable fleet of iron- 
clad and wooden ships, led by Admiral Farragut, after a 
fierce bombardment of Fort Morgan, ran past that for- 
tress, and entered Mobile Bay. One iron-clad, the Te- 
cumseh, was sunk by a torpedo,* and a small gunboat, 
the Philippi, was destroyed by our fire. On the same 
day, a monitor ran up within seven hundred yards of 
Fort Powell, and bombarded it for several hours. The 
garrison suffered no loss; the fort sustained no serious 
damage. That night, the commander evacuated and 
blew up the fort, thus leaving Grant's Pass open to the 
enemy. He is now undergoing trial before a court- 
martial. 

On the evening of August 3d, the enemy had landed a 
force on Dauphine Island, in order to besiege and reduce 
Fort Gaines. General Page called for reinforcements, to 
enable him to attack this force, which at that time he 
supposed to be small. Every available man was sent 
from Mobile to Fort Gaines. The entrance of the fleet 
into the bay prevented their return to the city. They 
were too few to make the proposed attack, but were too 
many for the proper siege garrison of Fort Gaines, and 
for the unexplained precipitate surrender made by 
Colonel Anderson of a work which, faithfully defended, 
could have held the enemy before it at least as long as 
Fort Morgan. 

* General Page reports that it was sunk by the guns of Fort Morgan. 



APPENDIX. 129 

After firing a few shots, Colonel Anderson, witliout 
authority, entered into negotiations with the enemy, and 
on the 7th instant, the Confederate flag was lowered, and 
the ensign of the enemy raised and saluted. General 
Page reports that he visited Fort Gaines, and used every 
proper means to prevent its surrender. He could not 
with propriety assume command at Fort Gaines, and 
remain absent from his more important command at Fort 
Morgan. He ordered Colonel Anderson to be relieved 
from command, and forbade any surrender unless the 
Federals should return with Colonel Anderson to the 
fort. Nothing more is known of this unfortunate affair. 
It enabled the enemy at once to concentrate all his efforts 
upon Fort Morgan, which was invested and besieged. In 
the course of a few days all communication was cut off 
with that fortress, and we could only infer anything of 
its fate from the distant sound of the cannon, and the 
uncertain reports of our scouts along the bay shore. 

After sustaining a very heavy attack b}'- the army and 
the fleet. General Page surrendered his fort and garrison 
on the 23d instant. From the statements of the enemy, 
we learn that their batteries had crowned the glacis. 
The citadel had repeatedly been set on fire, and the flag 
of the fort was not lowered until the work was no longer 
tenable. General Page is also reported to have destroyed 
everything in the fort which could be of service to the 
enemy before surrendering. 

I am, General, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

DABNEY H. MAURY, 

Major- General, commanding. 
9 



130 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

Fort Mokgan, 12 M., August 23, 18G4. 

Major-General D. H. Maury, 

or Commanding Officer^ District Mobile. 

General : I held the fort as long as it was tenable ; 
the parallels of the enemy had reached the glacis ; tlie 
walls were breached ; all the guns save two were dis- 
abled ; the wood- work of the citadel, being repeatedly 
fired by the shells of the enemy, endangered the maga- 
zines. All my powder was destroyed, every gun effec- 
tually spiked, and otherwise damaged, and indeed the 
whole fort (everything that could prove of value to the 
enemy) is now a mass of debris. 

I turn this over to their forces at two o'clock to-day. 
The garrison behaved gallantly, and gained honor for 
themselves and country. 

Respectfully, &c., 

R. L. PAGE, Brigadier- General. 



Office Torpedo Bureau, Richsiond, August 15, 18G4. 

Hon. James A. Seddon, Secretary of War., C. S. 

Sir : I have the honor to enclose the within telegram, 
with the remark that, previous to leaving Mobile, I had 
sixty-seven (67) torpedoes planted where this one acted, 
and had nine (9) sub-marine mortar batteries under way 
(three comi)leted) to close the main channel, such as the 
enemy report kept them out of Charleston ; they being 
unable to remove them. 



APPENDIX. 131 

But my instructions and wishes were frustrated after I 
left ; the place left open, and the enemy made use of it. 
Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

G. J. RAINS, 
Brigadier- General, superintendent. 



Telegram. 

Received at Richmond, August 13, 1864, at — o'clock, 
— minutes : 

By telegraph, from Mobile, 13, to General G. J. Rains. 

Monitor Tecumseh was sunk hy torpedo in thirty seconds. 

F. S. Baekett. 

^880 
' G. 

[Indorsement.] 

From Lieutenant Barrett, in charge of torpedo de- 
fences at Mobile, Alabama. 



132 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 



ARMAMENT AND WEIGHT OF TROJECTILES OF 
UNION VESSELS ENGAGED IN THE BATTLE 
OF MOBILE BAY. 



NAME. 


Guns. 


Solid 
Shot. 

lbs. 


Cored 
Shot. 

lbs. 


Shell. 
lbs. 


Shnp 
nel. 

lbs. 


Grape 
lbs. 


Cinis- 
tei. 

lbs. 


Brooklyn 


2 100-Pdr. Parrotts. 
2 60-Pilr. Parrotts. 
20 IX-inch Guns. 


70 
60 
90 


73 


80 
60 
72i 


86 

75 


74 


70 




Total Weight. 


2060 


1460 


1710 


1672 


1480 


1400 


Octorora 


i 

1 lOO-Pdr. Parrott. 

2 32-Pdr. 33 Cut. 

3 IX-inch. 

4 24-Pdrs. 


70 
32 
90 


73 


80 
26 
72i 
20 


86 
32 
75 
26 


334 
74 


30 
70 




Total Weight. 


404 


219 


429 


479 


289 


270 


Hartford 


2 lOO-Pdr. Parrotts. 
1 30-Pdr. Parrott. 
18 IX-inch. 


70 
30 
90 


73 


80 
29 
724 


86 
75 


74 


70 




Total Weight. 


1790 


1314 


1494 


1522 


1332 


1260 


Melacomet-. 


2 100- Pdr. Parrotts. 
4 IX-ineh. 
2 24-Pdrs. 
2 12-Pdrs. 


70 
90 


73 


80 
72i 
20 
10 


75 
26 
13 


74 


70 
17 
11 




Total Weight, 


500 


292 


510 


378 


296 : 336 


Mmond.... 


1 lOO-Pdr. Parrott. 
1 30-Pdr. Parrott. 
18 IX-inch. 


70 
30 
90 


73 


80 
29 
72i 


75 


74 


70 




Total Weight. 


1720 


1314 


1414 


1350 


1332 


1260 


Port Royal... 


1 lOO-Pdr. Parrott. 

1 X-inch. 

2 ->0-Pdrs. 
2 IX-inch. 
2 24-Pdrs. 


70 
134 

50 
90 


73 


80 
103 
60 
724 

20 1 


86 
101 

75 
26 


74 


69 
70 




Total Weight. 


474 


146 


468 : 389 

1 


148 ' 209 



APPEXDIX. 



loo 



NAME. 


Guns. 


SoHa 
Shot. 


Cored 
Sl>ot. 

Ids. 


Shell. 
/ds. 


Shrap 
ncl. 

If^s. 


Grape. 


C.iiiis- 
tcr. 

Ih. 


Lackawanna.. 


1 150- IMr. Parrott. 
1 50- IMr. 
'2 Xl-inoh. 
' -t IX-iiuli. 
1> 2-t-lMrs. 
4 U'-lMrs. 


185 

50 

yo 


73 


135 

50 
136 
72i 
20 
12 


141 
75 
26 


125 
74 


150 

70 
17 
11 




Total Weight. 


S77 


293 


835 


634 


646 


658 


Seminole 


1 80-rdr. r.irrott. 
G 3L'-lMrs. 
1 XI-iiK'h. 


so 

32 
lGt> 




211 

26 

136 


32 
141 


83i 
125 


SO 
150 




Total Weight. 


SSS 




S21 


S33 


326 


330 


Mononsalela • 


1 ir)0-Pilr. Parrott. 

2 Xl-iiu-h. 

5 3l'-l\hs. 57 Cut. 
•2 l>4-IMrs. 
1 U'-Pdr. 


135 

ICG 

32 




l.T. 

i;u; 

2G 
20 
12 


141 
32 
26 


125 
33i 


150 
30 
17 
11 




Total Weiglit. 


627 




589 


494 


417 


495 


KenneDec 

1 


1 20-Pdr. Parrott. 
1 Xl-iiu-h. 
'2 24-lMrs. 
I 12-Pdr. 


lOG 




19 

136 

20 

12 


20 

141 

2G 

12 


125 
24 


150 
17 
11 




Total Weight, 


1(56 




207 


225 


173 


195 


Ossipee 


1 100-Pdr. Parrott. 

1 Xl-inoh. 

t: ai'-Pdrs. 42 Cut. 
o aO-IMr. Parrotts. 

2 12-Pdrs. 


70 
166 
32 
30 
12 




80 
136 
26 
29 
12 


141 
32 

12+ 


125 
33 


150 
30 

ioi+ 




Total Weight. 


542 




483 


357 + 


323 


351 -1- 


Itaska 


1 Xl-inch. 

2 20- IMr. Parrotts. 
2 a2-Pdrs. 57 Cut. 
1 12-Pdr. 


IGG 
32 




136 
19 
2G 
12 


141 
20 
32 


125 
33i 


30 
11 




Total Weiglit. 


230 




238 


245 


192 


71 



134 



THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 



NAME. 


Guns. 


Solid 
Shot. 

lbs. 


Cored 
Shot. 

lbs. 


Shell. 
lbs. 


Shrap- 
nel. 

lbs. 


Grape. 
lbs. 


Canis- 
ter. 

lbs. 


ODCida 


2 Xl-inch. 

3 30-Pdr. Parrotts. 

4 32-Pclrs. 33 Cut. 
1 12-Pdr. 


1G6 
30 
32 




136 
29 
26 
12 


141 
32 


125 
33i 


150 

30 
11 




Total Weight. 


550 




475 


410 


384 


431 


Galena 


1 100-Pdr. Parrott. 
1 30-Pdr. Parrott. 
8 IX-inch. 
1 12-Pdr. 


70 
30 
90 


73 


80 
29 
72d 
12 


86 
75 


74 


70 
11 




Total Weight. 


820 


584 


701 


686 


592 


571 


TecMseli-. 


2 XV-inch. 


440 


400 


350 


358 


332 


197 




Total Weight. 


880 


800 


700 


716 


664 


394 


Manliattan-- 


2 XV-inch. 


440 


400 


350 


358 


332 


197 




Total Weight, 


880 


800 


700 


716. 


664 


394 


Wlnneto- 


4 Xl-inch. 


166 




136 


141 


125 


150 




Total Weight. 


664 




544 


564 


500 


600 


CMctaw... 


4 Xl-inch. 


166 




136 


141 


125 


150 




Total Weight. 


664 




544 


564 


500 


600 



The armament of Farragut's fleet in 1864 was consid- 
ered, both in Europe and America, exceedingly formida- 
ble. How guns have increased in size since then the 
following extract from Chief Engineer King's valuable 
" Report on European Ships of War " will show. By it 
the reader will see that the "Intrepid" throws at a 
broadside rather more than two-thirds of the weight of 
metal thrown by our eighteen vessels. 



APPENDIX. 



135 



" The armament of the Inflexible will be composed of 
four of the heaviest guns (except those making for the 
Italian vessels) ever constructed, of which the experi- 
mental eighty-one ton gun completed at Woolwich, and 
tested, is the type. They are capable of being fired, all 
four together, at an enemy ahead, astern, or abeam, and, 
in pairs, toward every point of the compass. 

" The gun is rifled with thirteen grooves, each having an 
increasing pitch from to 1 in thirty -five calibres. The 



o . 


Size of 
Powder, 


O u 

To _« 


SI 


>> 

"oj 3 
> t 

1 ' 


3 

S 3 
Oh O 

2 •- 


Total Energy 
developed. 




Cu6ic Indies. 


Pounds. 


Poimds. 


Feet. 


To7is per 
Sg. Inch. 


Foot-tons. 


1 


1.5 


340 


1,700 


1,486 


20.1 


26,030 


2 


1.5 


350 


1,700 


1,505 


20.4 


26,740 


3 


1.5 


350 


1,700 


1,502 


20.3 


26,630 


4 


1.5 


350 


1,700 


1,467 


19.6 


25,406 


5 


1.5 


350 


1,700 


1,475 


18.4 


25,683 


G 


1.5 


350 


1,700 


1,493 


21.0 


26.314 


7 


1.5 


360 


1,700 


1,487 


18.8 


26,103 


8 


1.5 


370 


1,700 


1,495 


19.9 


26,385 


9 


1.5 


350 


1,700 


1,518 


20.5 


27,203 


10 


1.5 


370 


1,700 


1,523 


20.3 


27.383 


11 


1.5 


360 


1,700 


1,519 


21.3 


27,239 


12 


1.5 


360 


1,700 


1,518 


20.0 


27,203 


13 


1.5 


370 


1.700 


1,519 


19.8 


27,239 


14 


1.5 


370 


1,700 


1,517 


20.7 


27,168 



service powder-charge is three hundred and seventy 
pounds of 1.5 inch powder. The weight of the projectile 
for the service-shell is one thousand seven hundred 
pounds, and the bursting charge about one hundred 
pounds of powder. The details of the series of proof- 



136 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

trials at Woolwich, also the tests at Shoeburyness, have 
been widely published. Still, for reference, it is believed 
advisable to give (p. 135) the results of the trials last 
made with the calibre of sixteen inches — that at which 
the gun is to be used in actual warfare." 



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